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At American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter meeting, you could feel the excitement in the air as the audience waited for the announcements of the award winners. Cheers erupted as titles, authors and illustrators were named. After the press conference, groups began to form and children's book specialists discussed their delight as well as their bewilderment as some of their favorites were bypassed. However, many of these favorites made other top books lists. There are 260,000 references to awards, prizes, honors and reading lists incorporated in the Children's Literature Comprehensive Database. This information is included to help you make informed decisions on titles worthy of your library collection. "This is the most valuable service for awareness of distinctive children's and young people's literature in the nation!" states Ruth Jean Shaw, administrator in charge of Library Resources with the Anchorage, Alaska School District. Thanks, Ruth Jean. You've summed it up beautifully. Search Tip of the Month The genre feature has been further refined to work better for you. To illustrate, since the genres are very broad because they use the subject terms associated with the MARC records, you need to add more information to get useable search results. If you click history as the genre and then fiction you get back a very large number of records. You would get better results if you added information into the search box. For example, if you were interested in the American Revolution you could add that text. Depending on what you are doing, you may want to limit further, especially if you want new books with some assurance that they are available. You could go back and modify your search by entering 2000 as the first publication date. Finally, sort the results in title, date or whatever order you want and start taking a look at a few to determine if they are indeed exactly what you wanted. You can then re-execute/modify your search in other ways. For example, if you again entered American Revolution and if you wanted something more specific-try adding female which when I did it netted 5 titles, or women which nets 34, or soldier which results in 41 items. If you are looking for a particular battle site or state or author -- any of this information can be put in the search box along with the original words and the search re-executed. This Month's Features Valentine's Day is just around the corner and we have plenty of good selections from this year and previous years. We have an extensive listing of web features and new books relating to Black History Month and prominent individuals such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Romare Bearden and some famous jazz musicians. Sharon Levin's Book Corner is available, and her feature reviews several new books with an educational focus. We have also made updates to all of the regular features (news, events, teachers, kids, librarians and parent's resources) and have added links to approximately 150 additional authors and illustrators. Spreading the News Our monthly newsletter is now available to everyone within an organization, not just the primary contact. A feature at www.childrenslit.com will provide you with a form allowing you to sign up for just the electronic newsletter. We loved one of the most recent quotes about CLCD from Karla Schmit, Professor Library Department, Librarian Laboratory School, Shippensburg University ---"Every author, every title, every time." The Children's Literature Comprehensive Database is your most complete source of information about children's books. Indeed, it is the next best thing to having the book in hand, and the best tool for leading you to the best books. All at a most affordable price. To subscribe to the CLCD, go to www.childrenslit.com. Your inquiry about CLCD has generated this email. Our newsletter is issued monthly. Please be assured that we do not sell or rent our lists. If you do not wish to receive our monthly updates, please reply to this e-mail and type "unsubscribe" in the subject field.
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