Interviews

Erica Carrillo 1

Introduction
Magazines, professional materials, and reference materials are cataloged and shelved in a

variety of ways according to library, media center, or school district expectations. With the onset

of digital e-books, e-magazines, and online reference material, one might question if cataloging

and shelving of magazines, professional materials, or reference materials is even a current issue.

With the pressures of district leaders to purchase cheaper digital resources for 24 hour

accessibility, the library and media center is changing. In Collection Development in the Digital

Age, the authors reference David House (2012), “Some studies of the ‘net generation’ suggest

that information-seeking behavior of those born after 1993 is fundamentally different from that

of older users,” (p. 49). This supports the push toward digital magazines, references, and

professional materials to meet the need of our ever-changing digital society. The following

interviews with practicing school media specialists, one paraprofessional, and a public librarian

describe how each handle the cataloging and shelving of magazines, professional materials, and

reference materials.

Cherokee County Schools: Avery Elementary School: K. Blakey

When posed with the question of how resources are cataloged and shelved, Ms. Blakey,

the media specialist, shared her viewpoint on digital references and traditional references.

Professional materials such as teacher kits are housed in two storage rooms in the media center

that are divided by grade level- K through 2 and 3 through 5. She finds it very frustrating that she

has to maintain those kits especially since teachers do not return them organized. She told me

that when they adopted those new programs, she was told that she would not have to maintain

them, but she has since the program’s inception, it has been her daunting task. The media center
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at Avery Elementary has non-fiction and references divided by K-3 and 3-5 and is organized by

Dewey Decimal System. Her reference section is not very large- maybe 1 large book shelf- and

only includes dictionaries, 1 set of encyclopedias, and atlases. She indicated that students rarely

use non-digital references because it is so accessible online, and students (and teachers) find

them outdated. The atlases, however, she feels are necessary so that students can manipulate and

measure distances easily. She indicated that students really preferred the atlases over digital

maps because it is so much easier. She does maintain commonly used digital reference sources

on her website so that students and teachers can easily access them from home or at school (K.

Blakey, personal communication, 10/9/2017).

Cherokee County Schools: Creekland Middle School: A. Benton

While spending my day with Ms. Benton, I asked her to share her position on the

transition to digital reference resource. Ms. Benton indicated that she has very few reference

books such as encyclopedias and dictionaries because of all the regularly updated digital

references readily available on the web. She mentioned multiple times that she provides links to

digital references on the Creekland Middle School Media Center website. This allows students

and teachers access 24 hours a day whether in the classroom, media center, or at home. She

spends much of her day researching online for new reference tools and resources so that she can

be up-to-date and support teachers and students. She often collaborates with teachers, and

subsequently, she finds resources and shares them with teachers. Although digital references are

more regularly updated and easy to access, she feels that students often comprehend more of the

content when it is not digital but in their hands for them to turn the pages. Professional materials

are housed within departments, but she does purchase and maintain STEM kits in her storage

room so that she can utilize them while collaborating with teachers. As for magazines, she does
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attach barcodes so that students and teachers can check them out because she says that students

love the magazines so she is not going to limit their use. After speaking to other media

specialists, the ability to check out magazines is a rarity in most libraries because of fear of

damage. Her philosophy is that students need access to magazines and other resources to

encourage reading in and out of school so she will not limit access. (A. Benton, personal

communication, 10/31/2017).

Fulton County Schools: Independence High School: S. Allegood

When posed with the question of how each of the resources were cataloged and shelved,

Ms. Allegood, the media specialist, offered insight into the district policies and strong

encouragement of “weeding” out the old encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other resources that can

be replaced with cheaper more up-to-date online sources. In the Independence Media Center,

reference materials are cataloged using the Dewey Decimal System and placed in its own

reference section. Although she expressed that the section is becoming smaller and smaller with

the onslaught of digital reference sources. Professional materials are also in a separate section

stored currently in the rear office/storage area, and is cataloged using the Dewey Decimal

System. Magazines are maintained for 2 years, and they are not cataloged or officially circulated

but shelved alphabetically for easy leisurely reading access. A temporary code is created to allow

teachers and students to check magazines that are not the most recent (S. Allegood, personal

communication, September 28, 2017).

Fulton County Schools: Roswell High School: K. Swearingin

Ms. Swearingin, the media specialist, at Roswell High School described her transition to

e-books and online reference resources. She indicated that they have gone from over 30,000
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books to only 9,000 by weeding out the outdated books with more up-to-date e-books and

reference books. She indicated that it took over two years for her to make the transition. There

are very few reference books cataloged, but if they are, they are by using the Dewey Decimal

System preceded by REF. She indicated that they are shelved separately, but there are very few

books in that section since most of the references are online. Professional learning materials are

no longer housed in the media center but in the appropriate subject department. She does not

catalog the materials or shelve them. Finally, magazines, are not cataloged but shelved

alphabetically, and students are not allowed to check them out. Teachers have the ability to

check out magazines by signing a log sheet to provide documentation (K. Swearingin, personal

communication, October 2, 2017).

Fulton County Schools: Holcomb Bridge Middle School: S. Eastman

Mr. Eastman, the media center paraprofessional, provided information about the

cataloging and shelving at Holcomb Bridge Middle School. When asked about magazine

cataloging, he indicated that the magazines do have barcodes to maintain temporary records, but

students are not allowed to check them out. He further explained that the magazines are

alphabetically shelved where visitors to the media center can easily access them. Professional

materials are cataloged using the Dewey Decimal System, but have PRO in front of the number

to distinguish these resources from others. They are not in a section of their own, and neither are

the reference books with the exception of encyclopedias. The few reference books they have are

interspersed using the Dewey Decimal System within the appropriate subject. An example he

gave is that if it is a non-fiction book about science, it is placed in the science section versus a

separate reference section. Like the other Fulton County Schools, he indicated that they are going
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away from the traditional reference books and acquiring more online and e-book resources (S.

Eastman, personal communication, September 30, 2017).

Cherokee County Public Library: R.T. Jones: S. Davis

For a different perspective, I chose to interview, S. Davis, an employee at the circulation

desk at a R.T. Jones, a Cherokee County Public Library. She shared that the library utilizes

MARC Records accessed through World CAT to remain consistent in cataloging the Dewey

Decimal System throughout the county. In actuality, there is one librarian who does all the

cataloging for the Cherokee County Public Library Branches, and her name is Christy. Reference

Materials are in a distinguished section with Reference Librarians to assist, however, much like

the school media centers, digital references are increasing to meet the demands of today’s library

patron. She indicated that professional materials would be cataloged using Dewey on the shelves.

Finally, magazine are kept for 2 years, and follow a color coded system to identify age of the

magazine. Yellow indicates it is a 2017, and the month is also identified. Patrons are allowed to

check out magazines as long as it isn’t the most recent issue so the stickers help. The magazines

are shelved alphabetically in one area that is visible to patrons. She was unsure, but she believed

that they were also cataloged according to the MARC record (S. Davis, personal communication,

October 2, 2017).

Conclusion

As I expected, all the media centers and the public library I spoke with indicated a

transition from traditional reference materials and resources to more of a digital one. This allows

accessibility to resources 24-hours a day from any location versus having to wait until the media

center or public library is open. As cited by J.M. Newsom (2016), “These students, according to
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Connaway, Radford, Williams, and Confer (2008) are collaborative; active learners; efficient

visual processors; multi-taskers; confident; achievement oriented; and prefer immediate

responsiveness to delays,” (p. 6). It is critical that we ensure that we support learners how they

feel most comfortable.

The cataloging of any existing reference materials is by using the Dewey Decimal

System although the reference section is no longer a separate entity with the exception of the

public library and possibly encyclopedia sets. Magazines are generally not cataloged or really

tracked at the school media centers but alphabetically shelved in an open area for primarily in-

media center use while the public library catalogs and allows check-out of magazines.

Professional materials are cataloged using Dewey Decimal and shelved in a separate area with

the exception of Roswell High School who does not shelve the materials in the Media Center but

the departments. I feel that this will ultimately happen at most school media centers because

professional materials are becoming more and more digital as time passes. It seemed consistent

practices were utilized in the public schools, but all three were in the same district, and follow

the same protocols and systems. In closing, a quote referenced by Phillips and Williams (2004)

struck me as the epitome of the challenge we face in our transition to the digital world in the

media center or public library, “Galbreath likens collection management in the electronic era to nailing

Jell-O to the wall, noting the complexity of processes for electronic resources budgeting, selection, and

management,” (p. 3).

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References

Marshall, A., & Fieldhouse, M. (2012). Collection Development in the Digital Age. London: Facet
Publishing. Retrieved from
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=544b293e-0925-4acf-bb55-
6ba16b68fa3d%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0Z
Q%3d%3d#AN=558464&db=nlebk

Newsum, J. M. (2016). School collection development and resource management in digitally

rich environments: an initial literature review. School Libraries Worldwide, (1), 97.
Retrieved from
http://articles.westga.edu:2105/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=13&sid=544b293e-0925-
4acf-bb55-6ba16b68fa3d@sessionmgr4007

Phillips, L.L., & Williams, S. R. (2004). Collection Development Embraces the Digital Age. Library
Resources & Technical Services, 48 (4), 273-299. Retrieved from
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=544b293e-0925-4acf-bb55-
6ba16b68fa3d%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0Z
Q%3d%3d#AN=15231183&db=lih