New Books on the Way to Prince William Public Libraries

Summer Reading is here, which often means a mad rush for the same titles as students from schools all over Prince William County and the City of Manassas scramble to find the books on their school’s suggested reading lists.

Your library makes every effort to have plenty of copies of those books—and both Prince William County Schools and Manassas City Schools coordinate with our selection staff when putting them together—but inevitably, some titles fly off our shelves faster than every student can get to them.

So it’s good to remember—these lists are suggestions, not requirements, created by educators in collaboration with librarians to provide students with good examples for summer reading. There are plenty of other options, often by the same author, for books with similar plots, styles, themes, reading levels, etc., available at your library.

While some lists offer “substitute” suggestions, and of course, library staff are on hand to help, your library also offers readers’ advisory tools in the Digital Library.

NoveList is a long-running readers’ advisory tool from reputable library publisher EBSCO. There is a version of the database specifically tailored for grade school and middle school-aged children (as well as preschool ages).

NoveList K-8 Plus provides a variety of ways to find a book to meet your reading needs or interests—thematic browsing, curated subject lists, genre lists, and an advanced search function that allows patrons to specify Lexile reading ranges, search solely for award-winning titles, etc. It’s a powerful tool backed by librarian input, publisher information, and professional reviewers. Unlike commercial sites, which are often driven by marketing information and publisher preference, NoveList K-8 Plus lets users choose the parameters regardless of what sales execs or algorithms would prefer to highlight.

You can access the database on our Digital Library from home at pwcva.gov/digitallibrary. The database will check for copies on hand so you can plan your next visit to your local library in advance. Check NoveList K-8 Plus out today!

Written by Kirk Johnson, Prince William Public Libraries Materials Services Division