In the Manor library, books have been specially organized and marked to make selection easier for our students. 
Scroll through the photos to see where different types of library books are housed.

Quick Reads are books that, in other libraries, are called "Easy Readers."  These are beginning reader books that tend to have a controlled vocabulary, large font size and repetitive story lines.  They are perfect for our second graders, many third graders, and older readers who need easier material.

Quick Reads are fiction (made up stories) and are carefully marked with a light blue sticker on the spines.  Fiction books are shelved alphabetically by author's last name.

Fiction "chapter" books, or longer, more difficult texts, are located here.  Again, fiction is shelved alphabetically by author's last name.

Students are taught to use the spine labels when browsing to find books by author's last name.  The library catalog lists books in this way.  Special stickers located on the spine of many books can give a clue as to that book's genre.  In this picture, you can see the science fiction sticker on two of the book's spines.

Fred the fiction fanatic, a purple bird puppet, attends any lesson dealing with fiction! 
Nicky, Manor Library's nonfiction nut, sees the students when nonfiction is the focus of instruction.

The nonfiction section has fish posters showing the Dewey numbers.  Every nonfiction book has a number on its spine, and each number represents a certain type of book.  Many Dewey numbers have decimals.  The more complicated the number, the more specific to a given topic the book will be.

Many skills are utilized when looking for a book in a library, including knowledge of decimals, number lines and alphabetical order.

Fish-shaped posters are used to show which Dewey numbers are located on the adjoining shelves.


Biographies, or books about people, have their own section.  They are shelved alphabetically, too, but by the last name of the person that the book is about.  Abraham Lincoln biographies, for example, would be found under the spine label "LIN."

In addition to our online databases, there is a print reference section.  This area houses dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases and encyclopedias.

Students are taught guide words to use in the print materials and keyword searches for our online sources of information!

Manor library has a large picture book collection.  These are of varying reading levels and are great for students to read at home while snuggling with a parent on a comfortable sofa.  Picture books have a bright yellow sticker on their spines with the first letter of the author's last name.
The library catalog, Alexandria, provides information on the location and type of book for which you are searching. This shelf location is called the "call number" even if there aren't any numbers involved.

Manor library's new books are showcased, with fiction "chapter" books on the top shelf, nonfiction on the second shelf down, and picture books on the bottom shelf.

The favorite titles are housed together to make them very easy for our younger students to find.  Favorites include the Arthur series by Marc Brown, the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne, the Zack Files books by Dan Greenburg and the Secrets of Droon series by Tony Abbott, among others.  These tend to be taken out by second and third graders and are slightly more difficult than the Quick Reads.

Hot Picks are one step more difficult and slightly longer than the favorites.  This section was created to help transition Manor students into longer, "chapter" books, and to appeal to reluctant readers at all Manor's grade levels.  These are shorter than a typical chapter book, but are still more challenging than a beginning reader.  With exciting covers, adventurous story lines and a flashy, flaming display, they are designed to draw students' attention!

As you can see, the library catalog, Alexandria, lets you know if the book has a special label and therefore, location.  That is the book's call number or "address" on the shelves.  You can look books up from any computer that has the Internet.

Manor students check out their books at the circulation desk and are welcome to visit the library for book check out at any time during the school day!

Each day, fifth grade students participate in our Library Club.  They are great helpers in maintaining the collection!