Lesson

How is the Library Arranged? (Developed by Becky Gelman)

Information Literacy Benchmarks

Understands basic organizational pattern of library media center

Information Literacy Model Objectives

Locates sources

Anticipatory Set

When you are looking for something in particular at home, do you know where to look? If you were looking for your socks, do you know where they are kept? If you want to play a board game, do you know where to look? How about if you want some cereal--do you know where the special location for cereal is? Do you keep your pet's food in a particular spot? If you are going to ride in the car, I'll bet you know where the car is kept! Your family has an organizational plan so you and your family will know where to find what you need. Here in the library we have an organizational plan, too.

Objectives

Students will understand the library is organized into different areas and in each area you can find different types of materials. Students will be able to locate an area of interest and select materials from that area.

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Input

When new materials come into the library, I need to know where to put them so that kids and teachers can find them. You may not have noticed, but the library is divided in different areas, each for a certain type of material. Five colored banners identify the five main areas. The purple banner above us is for the Everybody (picture) books area. Can you see another colored banner? (Identify Fiction, Biography, Nonfiction and Reference areas by their banners) We have other areas, too, but they don’t have their own banners. Each week are going to explore another area of the library. After we find out about what’s there, you will have the opportunity to check out materials from that area.

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Modeling

Note: These lessons extend over several weeks as younger students learn what materials may be found in the library and where they are located. Each week model a different area of the library, including Everybody, Beginning Chapter books, books on tape, magazines, paperbacks, fiction, nonfiction, Biography, etc., depending on your library’s organization and your students’ needs. Within nonfiction you may want to further identify areas of special interest, such as 811 for poetry and 398.2 for folktales and fairytales. The following example teaches students about the video collection.

We have a collection of videotapes for students to checkout. Our videos are stories on tape. We have many different titles. Hold up a video. They are all kept on the shelves near the stamping table. Have a student walk over and point to these shelves.

	What will you need in order to watch this videotape? (A working VCR connected to a working TV)
	Look carefully at the case. On the front is the title, on the back it often tells how long the video runs, here is the spine, and here is the call number – VidT – which tells us to keep this item in the special videotape area. The videos are in alphabetical order on the shelf by the call letters or in numeric order by call numbers.
	The case must be snapped tightly shut to protect the video inside.
	Demonstrate how to insert the video into the VCR. Discuss important of having parent’s permission before using equipment at home.
	Watch a video or a portion of one.
	At checkout time, walk the students over to the area where the videos are kept so they can note the location.

Check for Understanding

Ask, why do we need an organization plan in the library? How will it help us to know this plan? What does the call number on the spine tell us?

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Guided Practice

Ask, if you wanted to check out a video, who can walk over to the area of the library and point out where we keep the videos? Magazines? Nonfiction? Books on tape, etc.

Independent Practice

Students will identify and locate areas of interest and checkout materials from those areas.

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This page was last updated on May 23, 2008.