Renaissance Letter

Minerva,

Here's the letter from Renaissance Learning:

From: Eric Stickney [mailto:EMSTICKN@renlearn.com]

Sent: Thu 10/30/2008 3:36 PM

Subject: Library organization question

Bill,

Thank you for your question about library organization. As I had

suspected, we have never done a study on the impact of organizing books

a certain way on student reading productivity or achievement.

Renaissance Learning does not provide firm recommendations to schools

regarding the organization of books (by readability level, Dewey, or

other method). However, from 20+ years of experience working with school librarians we have offered the following guidance to librarians via our professional development:

- Color coding books by readability level may be useful in grades K-2

but is generally not recommended for middle and high school libraries.

Color coding and organizing titles by those readability levels becomes

less important in the upper elementary grades and may be detrimental in

the middle/high grades. For instance, it can be embarrassing for

struggling older students to be associated with a color code or section

of the library that represents a low reading range.

- In our training, we note that most librarians merge or interfile books

with AR quizzes along with non-AR books according to Dewey decimal

classification.

- Anecdotally, we have heard from several libraries over the years that

organizing titles by AR readability instead of something like the Dewey

system beyond the early elementary grades can cause confusion and

conflict in the school. The problems include the embarrassment mentioned

above, and parent/educator concerns that students are not learning how

to locate titles in a library that is more traditionally organized.

Again, we have no firm recommendation regarding library organization but have shared these experiences and suggestions via professional

development.

I hope that is helpful,

Eric Stickney

Director of Educational Research

Renaissance Learning

PO Box 45016

Madison, WI 53744-5016

phone 608.664.3880 x2009

fax 608.664.3882

eric.stickney@renlearn.com

Barbara Jeffus

School Library Consultant

California Department of Education

1430 N Street, Suite 3207

Sacramento, CA 95814

916.319.0445

FAX 916.319.0172

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/lb

School Libraries Improve Student Achievement.