Is your library collection really ageing? - Progress Report + ClickView and OLIVER

Last week, I completed the list of books without publication dates to determine the age of the books in my library collection, and the final figure reflected an estimate that I took back in November when using a spreadsheet; I applied a formula from the Awful Library Books Blog and OLIVER got it to within one year of the estimate.

Now, I will have a date to start aiding me in weeding an ageing collection and target books that are older than that date before shifting to books past that date. 

But I also discovered a fault in OLIVER that was keeping my collection appearing younger than it should be - Clickview Items were appearing as books in format. It meant that in OLIVER I had to change the format to video to ensure that only books were listed as format and change. 

Another opportunity arose as well, updating catalogue records on SCIS as well. There are a number of items that are not linked to SCIS, which means extra work, but I feel that it is important to ensure that each book in our collection is correctly catalogued but also with the correct data. SCIS is integrated with OLIVER which means data can be automatically updated. 

Is your library collection really ageing?

As a member of the Management Committee for the School Library Association of NSW (SLANSW), I wrote a feature for their blog on determining the average age of books in your library collection.

Being a members-only article, I will not post it here in its entirety, but I will provide you with a link to the Awful Library Books Blog if you want to read up about the process, as it was a source that informed me in preparation of the article

I have found it useful as a starting block to weed books, especially if there are a lot of books to weed. It means that books that are not as old face the chopping block first.

Book Request Paper Forms Vs Book Request Online Forms

I have for the past few months managed an online form (made via Google Forms) that encourages students and staff to suggest new books for the school library. I've over 80 requests from students and staff though I have made a few contributions so I don't forget to get the books

This week, I decided to make paper forms with the idea focusing on "Book Wishes" where students can "wish" for a book. With this approach, I keep it more simple. 

They then place their paper slip in a box. I noticed that a dozen requests were received within a day.

So will paper win or will the online form win?

I can see advantages both ways. The paper form is much simplier while online forms do require a little extra information to be provided. However the online form can be filled from anywhere and being done from a computer can make the request appear less visible to others. Mind you, only library staff can view the spreadsheet with book requests.

If you do book requests, do you still go for paper or do you go online or do you do both approaches.

Sorting fiction items by genre

Schools have been embracing genrefication of the fiction collections. In my practice, I can see the benefits.

• Allows students to locate fiction items more easily.
• Students can locate items by personal interests and identify related texts.
• As a Teacher Librarian, I can easily located related texts on the shelves without having to refer to the catalogue. 
• Can be modelled on the genres already in use by the library. 
• Case studies show more engagement with genrefication e.g. more borrowing.
• Can stimulate ideas for new displays that revolve around genres. 

However, there are disadvantages

• May require more shelving.
• May not accommodate books that are tied to more than one genre. The question that has be asked as to which genre should the item be placed in.
• Time consuming - especially if genre labels have not been placed on books. This can restrict access to resources for students.
• Identifying which genres should be allocated shelving and what types of literature would be listed under them.

Never be limited by what genres may be listed in cataloguing systems or the labels that be provided by suppliers such as RAECO. If you feel the need to have a "Quick Reads" genre, which is one idea I would like to try, do it if you believe that it would support reading programs. My idea of the "Quick Reads" genre stems from the need to accommodate weak or reluctant readers who may be challenged by longer or more challenging literature.

The use of "Graphic Novels" & "Picture Books" in tertiary institutions - Survey Results

As promised to the member's of the OZTL_NET forum, I would publish results of my recent survey.

As of May 11, 130 responses had been received and the results are listed below:




Overwhelmingly, 88 % of schools  refer to their Graphic Novels collection as Graphic Novels. Just 1.5 % of schools refer to their Graphic Novels collection as Graphic Texts. There is general consensus that Graphic Novels be referred to as Graphic Novels.




There was also general consensus with more than 90 % referring to their Picture Book collection as Picture Books. Other responses included Junior Fiction (which can work in K-12 school libraries and is widely used in public libraries), Children's Fiction and Picture Fiction. 1.5 % only refer to the Picture Book collection as Visual Texts (see below for further comment).




More than 80% of respondents felt it could cause confusion for students if the Graphic Novels collection was named as Graphic Texts and that if the  Picture Books collection was named as Visual texts.


I invited participants to provide additional comments which was an optional response. A selection has been included:

Even in public libraries, where students visit during holidays, or as an extension to their school library, the terms "Graphic Novels" , and "Picture Books" are used. This will be consistent with what they know in other libraries, to keep the terms you want. Also, not all students will go onto University, but it will be interesting to hear if all universities use the terms that you mention. I would be interested to hear what feedback you receive. Good luck with your project!

CBCA [Children’s Book Council of Australia]  use the term Picture Books

Graphic novels is the name used by the industry therefore it is the most appropriate to use in the library, just like how picture books are no longer called picture story books. Collection/genre names are a part of literacy education and should therefore stick to terms that can be understood in a broad range of circumstances, if you were to ask about graphic texts at a book store or a comic book store you may get some puzzled looks, not to mention that many people may not make the connection between that term and graphic novels. Also visual texts is something of a tautology as all texts are visual.

I personally dislike the word 'text', particularly in the main library area. Something about it feels harsh and uninviting. 
We tend to use 'text' just for our book hire/textbook resources.

We are an Indigenous school in the middle of the NT. Terms such as 'Graphic texts' and 'Visual text's would most definitely confuse our students. I would have lost the reading battle before i even got started. KISS principle rules here.

Yes, becuase Year 7 have a unit in English on Graphic Novels, and from talking with students in their Library introduction lessons, they know the term Picture Books from primary school and refer to them using this term.

Remember we they are children, not corporate people. Simplify!

These terms, particularly visual texts, are not ones that children would normally use so I feel using these would be quite confusing.

A graphic novel IS CALLED a graphic novel. Same with a Picture Book. That's what they're called in the trade. Graphic Text sounds like a chart with pictures. So does Visual Text. Horrible terms that you shouldn't even consider. I've never seen them in a school. If you want to put Graphic Text and Visual Text into catalogue records somewhere, fine, but wouldn't re-name collections to these.

I have never heard of either of these terms to describe these formats of books at my school library (and other school libraries I've worked at) nor the public library where I also work.

Although I am now in a secondary school library, I worked in a university for many years and picture books were always picture books! There were no graphic novels held at that time, but I doubt that they would be named graphic texts

I don't think they'd be confused if they were taught what the terms refer to; however, students know graphic novels as graphic novels and picture books as picture books. Therefore, calling them anything else seems a bit ridiculous. These are syllabus terms, not library terms.

The terms "Graphic novels" and "picture books" follow that old golden rule: The rule of "common sense".

Everyone knows what Graphic Novels and Picture Books are - why create confusion? The terms "Graphic Texts" and "Visual Texts" could apply to anything from comics, graphic novels, picture books, films, cartoon strips...
( "Comics" could also be used for Graphic Novels if you wanted to. Graphic Novels are generally in trade paperback format and are often a collection of previously published, serial 'comics' .)

We need to use terms appropriate to our clients. If our clients are students in Years 7 - 12, then using terms like "Graphic texts" is not appropriate.

There are lots of different sorts of visual texts, including graphic novels, posters, websites, big chunks of the non-fiction collection and even poems with strong visual imagery

Final Findings

• Schools prefer to name their Graphic Novel Collection as Graphic Novels.
• Schools prefer to name their Picture Book Collection as Picture Books. 
• Very few schools refer to the Graphic Novels Collection as Graphic Texts.
• Very few schools refer to the Picture Books Collection as Visual Texts.
• We need to apply “common sense” and standard library practice. 
• We need to avoid confusion. 
• Providing names such as Visual Texts and Graphic Texts are seen to possibly confuse students. As pointed out last week referring to Graphic Novels as Graphic Texts is in fact misleading. 

Can Visual Texts be used to name a Picture Book collection?

An email arrived in my inbox from a senior Teacher Librarian after I shared some preliminary results one week ago on the OZTL-NET Forum. A picture book collection can have the name Visual Texts applied as it is a curriculum term. It does encompass more than picture books. It can include TV shows, films, websites etc. 

However, I would not use it if the collection had picture books only, but was prepared to include a variety of formats under that umbrella.