Denver's teen website lets you sort books by middle school or high school with many books being categorized as both. What does everyone think of that? Our teen focus groups liked the idea - especially the middle schoolers who seemed very conscientious about avoiding inappropriate material. I like the way Denver's works because all items show up, but viewers can choose to sort if they want
If we decide to do it all staff picks, bibs... would have to come tagged as MS or HS or both. What would our criteria be? Will we have to be extra sure that anything tagged middle school is really clean? What would be our source for justification if any are questioned given that the catalog just says 12 and up for all YA?
Please comment on this soon, because that sorting feature will have to be built into the teen site.
Thanks,
Alyson
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9 comments:
This is a really tough decision because there are so many details that go into deciding what would qualify something as a middle or high school title. And sometimes the specification works against the goal of catagorizing, i.e. rebellious middle schoolers reading any more mature materials they can get their hands on and high schoolers avoid books that may be great but catagorized for middle schoolers.
I say we simply be more clear about questionable topics addressed in books we review and allow the patron to decide if it is appropriate for them.
I agree with Anna. Once we (emphasize on we) start labeling certain books ms or hs, we open ourselves to backlash if a parent doesn't agree with us. If we do a really good job of writing the blurbs, we should be able to convey content enough to guide choices.
UNI70 is me, Kris
What about things that don't have a good annotation? Many books get added with the description from the catalog. Do we have a set phrase "for mature readers" we use on some material?
Alyson
If it is not important to sort, then why did we just publish two bibs? One for high school one for middle school?
alyson
It's my opinion we should concentrate on writing blurbs that would help a wary young teen who did not want to read
"inappropriate" material. This would only be a concern if you review a title that is gritty or questionable for a young teen. Most reviews would not need qualification or sorting.
I like the idea of sorting MS and HS. I realize setting the criteria for determining what is MS and what is HS appropriate is difficult. I agree with Alyson, why did we create two bibs? Most of us are savy enough to realize what is appropriate for a MS. Everyone knows I tend to be rather conservative on my selections. After 10 years working with middle schoolers I certainly have my ideas on what would be appropriate and not appropriate for middle schoolers. It doesn't matter which way we go we will always get backlash from parents!
I respectfully disagree with labeling because it is the first step down a slippery slope. Kids are smart, they can figure out what they want or they'll ask.
Can we use the sorting feature with the understanding that not all annotations will have middle school or high school tags added to them? Teens who were cautious and used the sort feature would get a smaller selection but would be guaranteed what they got was appropriate. Pamela Bagby
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