For the past three years it has been my pleasure to be a part of the AASL American University Presses Book Selection Committee. This year I will not be able to attend the 2019 AASL National Conference, but a few of my fellow committee members will be presenting our work at this year’s conference. If you are attending and have begun planning your must-go-to sessions, don’t miss out on hearing about some outstanding nonfiction titles from our committee.
Takeaways
The goal of attending any conference is to walk away from the experience with new ideas, colleagues to network with, and if you’re lucky some free giveaways. During our AAUP session, titled “Curation and Collaboration Tool Time: Using the AAUP Bibliography to Select Reference Materials That Your Learners Need,” we have been lucky enough to be able to offer you all of these things! As part of coming to our session, attendees can enter a drawing where three will win a selection of books reviewed in the 2018-2019 University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries. In addition, every attendee who enters the drawing will be mailed a copy of the newest AAUP biography when it comes out in January 2020. Don’t miss out on these great resources to build the nonfiction collection in your school library. Committee members will introduce you to the bibliography and detail how to use it, its connections to the AASL Standards, and several of their favorite titles.
What Is the AAUP Bibliography?
The AAUP committee works hard each year to review University Press books from all over the country. Each member is assigned a Dewey decimal range of titles to evaluate. All members read each title sent to them and evaluate it accordingly. After all the titles sent in for the year are evaluated a bibliography is compiled for librarians in public and secondary school library settings. The latest bibliography available online is from 2017. All of the back issues can be found online as well on the Association of University Presses website.
How Can I Use the Bibliography?
This bibliography can act as a purchasing guide for you at any level or age range that you serve. This list will give you great ideas for nonfiction books to purchase in any Dewey range. Each title listed has a cover picture, a brief summary, grade-level range, and a rating of the title. Titles that are outstanding are labeled “O”; titles for a general audience are labeled “G”; titles for a specialized collection are labeled “S.” This list is extremely helpful when thinking about collaboration ideas with teachers, curating resources for your curriculum, and exploring new areas of study with students.
If AASL19 is your destination this November consider attending “Curation and Collaboration Tool Time: Using the AAUP Bibliography to Select Reference Materials that Your Learners Need” on Saturday, November 16, at 1:10 p.m. in room L028. We have tons of great information on quality nonfiction for your collections to share. You may even walk away with a free book! Get your students and staff excited about teaching and reading nonfiction with our AAUP bibliography.

Author: Elizabeth Libberton
Elizabeth Libberton is the library media specialist at St. Charles East High School in St. Charles Illinois. She currently writes book reviews for School Library Journal. She is a member of the ALA Awards Selection Committee. Also, she is a member of the steering committee for the AISLE Lincoln Book Award.
Categories: Blog Topics, Collection Development, Community/Teacher Collaboration, Professional Development
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