Summary:Instructions for cataloging the Children's and YA Literature Collection materials.
Determine if 'picture' or 'chapter' book
These are terms that the children's literature community uses to distinguish between books where the predominant focus is on the illustrations vs. books where the predominant content is text. So a "chapter book" may not actually have chapters, per se--it is just a book that has too much textual content to be considered a picture book.
Picture books usually have these indicators:
32-60 pages
Larger size
Extensive illustrations
usually on every page
usually in color
Glossy pages
Text printed in larger font size
Picture books require a special call number and streamer (see below).
Chapter books usually have these indicators:
40-50+ pages
Chapters or long blocks of text with paragraph indents
Smaller size
Illustrations less extensive
more often in black and white
Matte pages
Text very predominant, printed in smaller font size
Chapter books do not require any special steps.
NOTE: Content, subject matter, & reading level aren’t good indicators!
Picture books can be for younger or older audiences--it just depends.
From Wikipedia: “Picture books are most often aimed at young children, and while some may have very basic language especially designed to help children develop their reading skills, most are written with vocabulary a child can understand but not necessarily read. For this reason, picture books tend to have two functions in the lives of children: they are first read to young children by adults, and then children read them themselves once they begin learning to read. Some picture books are published with content aimed at older children or even adults.”
If questionable → send to Autumn. Jill will periodically examine any books that appear to fall in the gray area between these two categories and decide where she wants them placed.
add mnjuv as an additional location in the bib record in Sierra
although 5-letter codes are not usually used in bib records, one is used for this collection because it facilitates a scoped search in the public catalog; thus, the bib should contain both mn and mnjuv in its location field (per Dao, 2018)
put |f picture at beginning of call number, followed by |a [call number]
PZ (Fiction) & Work Marks
If item is clearly fiction for younger readers, make sure a PZ call number is present
typically the call number will in the PZ7 range
if no PZ call number available, send to Autumn
If item is non-fiction, graphic novel, or fiction for older adolescent readers, other call numbers are ok to accept
Call numbers in the PZ5 - PZ10.5 range only should have what LC calls a "work mark." This is used instead of a title Cutter and contains the first two or three letters of the title.
If PZ5-10.5 call number has title Cutter → change to work mark
If PZ75-10.5 call number has no title Cutter or work mark → add work mark