Education Library Collections

Teaching Collection

Fiction
Non-fiction
Picture Books
Pictures and Picture Packs
Reading Centre
English Language Readers
Maori Language Readers
School Journal Collection
Cassette, CD and CD-ROM Collections

The Education Library Teaching Collection is housed on Level 3. It contains books and other resources such as pictures, cassettes, videos and slides for using in schools during teaching practice, to assist in the preparation of planning for teaching, and to support coursework in the School of Education.

Staff and students are also welcome to borrow these resources for their own children.

New Zealand books

Fiction and picture books are identified by a kiwi symbol if they have New Zealand content and by a fern leaf if they are by a New Zealand author. Books in Te Reo Maori carry a kowhaiwhai symbol.

Fiction

The collection ranges from books designed to be read to children of pre-school age through to books for young adults. This section caters for different reading abilities and a wide range of interests, and supports curriculum areas. Books which are used in Children's Literature courses are a feature of the collection. It is Library policy to select major award winning fiction. Awards are indicated on the catalogue entry for each book.

The collection contains many books which are good for reading aloud to children. Always read a book yourself before you attempt to read it to children. This will allow you to avoid reading material unsuited to the age group involved, alert you to potentially sensitive areas, prepare you for any tricky bits of texts, and allow you to become accustomed to sad or upsetting parts of texts before you read them publicly.

Novels for young adults have a red circle on the lower spine, and may be stamped 'Secondary School'. Such novels should not be taken into primary schools for use by children and should be used in Intermediate Schools only with caution.

Collections of short stories have a yellow dot placed on the lower spine.

Non-Fiction

The non-fiction collection supports curriculum areas and areas of general interest to children. There are strong collection of myths, legends and fairy tales, and of poetry for children. The maths collection is augmented by maths equipment, particularly in the junior school area. Primary school materials predominate; secondary level materials, particularly those relating to the upper forms, can also be found in the main collection. Many subjects are catered for at a variety of different levels.

Picture books

The collection caters for different reading abilities and a wide range of interests, and supports curriculum areas. It contains picture books suitable for use with children from very early childhood through to junior secondary level. Board books for babies sit alongside sophisticated picture books for intermediate and secondary school pupils. It is Education Library policy to select major award winning picture books from New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, the United States of America, and from other countries where it appears appropriate. Awards are indicated on the catalogue entry for each book.

Pictures and Picture Packs

Single Pictures and Picture Packs (collections of pictures on a theme) are located between the Picture books and the Reading Collection to the far right as you enter the Teaching Collection area. Pictures support curriculum areas and are collected for use in teaching practice, for illustrating seminars and for providing visual starting points for discussion on particular topics.

You are responsible for checking the contents of envelopes before getting these issued as each item missing on return will incur a minimum $3.00 replacement charge.

Reading Centre

The Reading Centre contains books which have been written for the general purpose of teaching children to read. Most of the books in this collection are designed for use by children with a reading age between 5 and 10 years, with interest levels between 5 and 15 years. There are examples of British, American, Australian and Pacific Island readers, as well as examples from all series published in New Zealand.

English Language Readers

The English language readers have a three level call number code:

Line	Explanation	Example	Explanation
1	Reading level	01MAG	Early emergent
2	Code for series to which the book belongs	SUN	Sunshine Books series
3	First 3 letters of the title of the book	CRO	Crocodiles crunching crackers

The boxes in which they are kept are colour-coded to match the reading ability levels on the Colour Wheel. Teacher's Guides are shelved at the beginning of the English Reader Collection.

Maori Language Readers

This collection has its own area and forms part of the Reading Centre that is on Level 3.  It contains books that have been written for the purpose of teaching children to read in the Maori language. Some of the readers are translations of English versions held elsewhere in the Reading Centre, e.g. readers published in the School Journal Story series.

Reading Levels

There are a number of series, some easy, some harder. They are not graded according to the colour wheel as the English readers are. Books in the new series, Nga Kete Korero, have their own reading levels system. There are overall Teacher's Guides and posters shelved at the beginning of the collection. Individual Teacher's Guides, where they exist, are shelved in the same box with the  readers they relate to.

The Maori language readers are coded in two ways - like this for Journals:

Line	Explanation	Example	Explanation
1	Code for series to which the book belongs	KOH	He Kohikohinga series
2	Volume number	10	Consecutive issues

and like this for individual publications:

Line	Explanation	Example	Explanation
1	Code for series to which the book belongs	PUR	He Purapura series
2	First 3 letters of the title of the book	KOI	Koia Tena

Books with tapes

Some books in this collection have tapes to go with them - the box will have a label directing you to the Cassette Collection, which is housed in the wooden cabinets nearby. 

Big books in Maori

There are growing numbers of big books in Maori and these are shelved at the end of the Maori Readers section.

School Journal Collection

Multiple copies of each issue of School Journal are grouped chronologically in levels then further divided into parts. ie: Number 4, 2004 Part 1.

Teacher's Guides are shelved next to the relevant box.

Cassette, CD and CD-ROM Collections

Audio tapes are held in the Cassette Collection which is housed in the wooden cabinets on Level 3.

CDs and CD-ROMs are kept behind the Issue Desk on Level 1.

Audio tapes, CDs and CD-ROMs can be borrowed for the normal loan period.