Classroom Library Organization

It's that time of year: time to organize and clean-out your classroom library. This is something that many of us dread because we do have so many books, but we know we HAVE to do it!

I always organize by genre because I am an upper grades teacher and we have genre study units. Well, if you are anything like me, you probably are not always 100% sure of the genre of the book. Scholastic to the rescue! Scholastic has a great website which allows you to type in the name of the book and it generates the genre! 

http://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/

Now that we can sort our books (yay - oh PS: You it will also give you the reading level), it's time to figure out how to keep your library organized.

Library Systems 

I love using a library checkout system. Yes, it sounds a little over the top BUT IT WORKS! Students lose books, destroy books, or read the same book ten times over. Having a checkout system helps you to keep your classroom library intact for more than just the first quarter of the school year. Here are some programs I have tried out!

 # 1

 http://classroom.booksource.com/

This is a website and has an app for your Droid or Apple device. You can enter the title or the ISBN. Cost: FREE

I love how my devices sync. I can use the app on my iPhone or iPad to scan ISBNs into my system. It shows up on the website too! I can put the website link on my class website, so students can see what is missing and what I have in my library. I can print or email lists of books that need to be turned in. Students can check in and check out their own books.

 

I can't find an issue with this one, other than some Scholastic ISBN's are not recognized.





# 2

http://bookendsoftware.com/

This software is mailed to you or downloaded online. It require a scanner, but you can buy the scanner and software online. Cost: $135 plus shipping and handling

This is the first system I used (I bought it 3 or 4 years ago). The scanner works great and you can print off who has books out. Easy for students to use and has "library" cards they print out and scan. Very similar to what most school libraries use.

 I wasn't in love with the prep work. You have to enter titles, genres, everything on the computer into their program. It took quite a while, but if you have a small library then it won't be bad!




# 3

 http://www.librarything.com/

You can type in ISBN's or titles of books. It resembles social networking platforms. Cost: Free

It is great for organizing by title, genre, etc. It shows you what the book looks like. Good for professional libraries.

It is a little clunky and not elementary friendly. I think middle, high, or professional development libraries would like it. It would be good if you loan your professional books to other teachers.