Selection Aids (503)

There certainly are a lot of selection aids with an Australian focus available on the internet. I found the online bookshops and publishers' sites to be a useful but limited tool. As they are trying to sell books, they have a summary of the book rather than a review. This is good if you know what resources you want but not good if you are seaching for a relevant resource that you know little about.

The review sites were helpful in that they mostly contained critical reviews of resources and there are many sites available to review books to be used in Australian schools.

A selection aid needs to suit your purpose. The criteria will vary with the different types of selection aids. Some criteria that I think would be useful are:

• Is the aid easy to use and navigate?
• What bias does the aid have (is it trying to sell books?)?
• Are there access costs?
• Who does the reviewing? What authority do they have?
• Is it a suitable reviewing aid for the situation (e.g. a primary school library)?
• Does it suit the local community (e.g. a primary school in western sydney)?

My school currently uses SCIS, dept of ed (NSW) sites, advertising material, booksellers and book fairs. Perhaps another reviewing tool would be of value.