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Children & Young Adult Collection

The Children-Young Adult Collection is located on the second floor of Waldo Library, near the bridge to the Computing Center. The smaller Curriculum Enrichment Collection is located in the Education Library, 3300 Sangren Hall.

Purpose and Scope of Collection

This collection serves primarily as a resource and examination center for classes in English, education and early childhood education. It makes available the best writing in the field, including fiction, non-fiction, and picture books. It also includes a substantial amount of material at the middle and high school reading levels. Since September 1981, the emphasis has been in the areas of picture books, fiction, multicultural and ethnic books, poetry, folk literature, biography, and historical fiction and non-fiction.

WestCat is the online library catalog of the University Libraries. To search for children's books by subject in WestCat, you first need to limit your search to the location "WMU All Children's Books." Then use the Advanced Search mode to type in the topics of the children's books you wish to find. You can access WestCat at any of the terminals in the libraries or remotely from the Libraries' home page.

For additional help in finding children's books in the WMU Libraries, please see this brief "how to" guide Find a Children's Book.

Arrangement of the Collection

Easy Books. Picture books as well as more advanced reading material through and including the third grade. Arranged in alphabetical order by author's last name. Easy Books circulate for a two-week period, without renewal.

Beginning Readers. Learning-to-read books designed for children just starting to read, usually 64 pages in length and with a limited vocabulary. Arranged in alphabetical order by author's last name. Beginning Readers circulate for a two-week period, without renewal.

Fiction. For elementary students beyond the third grade, and for middle and high school students. Arranged in alphabetical order by author's last name. Fiction books circulate for a two-week period.

Non-fiction. Classified by Dewey Decimal number and arranged in call number order. Non-fiction books circulate for a two-week period. Materials classified in the "398" folk literature collection are not renewable.

Biography. Classified by Dewey Decimal numbers in either 92 (individual biographies) or 920 (collective biographies). They are shelved in the non-fiction section, and circulate for a two-week period.

Caldecott and Newbery Award-Winning Books. Located on the second floor of Waldo Library, this is a reference collection with at least two non-circulating copies for each year, with additional copies in the stacks which may be checked out.