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Children's Literature

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Children's Books

PG County Libraries:

Since the Juvenile Collection here at UMD is a small collection developed as a teaching instrument rather than to duplicate a good public library and/or school library collection, you might become a borrower at a local public library to have access to a larger collection.

Prince George’s County Memorial Library has a Hyattsville Branch. The Hyattsville branch is located at 6530 Adelphi Rd. The 113 UM Shuttle [University Town Center Bus] will take a UM student within two blocks of the Hyattsville Branch. To contact the branch for information on how to borrow materials call 301-985-4690.

Other Libraries:

Juvenile Collection

The Juvenile Collection houses approximately 8,980 books. The Collection is located in McKeldin Library on the first floor in the Current Periodical Room. It consists of materials intended for children in pre-school through tenth grade. The Juvenile Collection has circulating and noncirculating books.

The Juvenile Award collection is a small non-circulating collection of Newbery and Caldecott Medal Winners and Honor books with the call number, 810. Each award book has a circulating copy located under another call number.

The collection's strength is its award winning titles, such as the Newbery, Caldecott, Corretta Scott King Award and Pura Belpre Award.

The collection's weakness is the limited number of books within the collection. Being such a small collection, if you are unable to locate children books on a specific topic or a specific title, don't forget to check the holdings on the other USMAI libraries.

Searching the Collection

Try these subject headings when searching UMD Discover

Children's literature
Children's literature, American
Children's literature, English
Children's literature, Spanish
Children's literature -- Bibliography
Children's literature -- Book Reviews
Children's literature -- History and Criticism
Children's literature -- Illustrators
Children's literature -- Study and Teaching
Children's periodicals
Children's plays
Children's poetry
Juvenile fiction (preceded by a subject word, e.g., "magic," etc.)
Young adult fiction
Young adult literature
Caldecott Medal
Newbery Medal
School librarians
School libraries
School libraries -- Administration
School libraries -- Periodicals
School libraries -- United States

For more information on searching for children's literature, please  visit this guide.

The University of Maryland has a variety of special collections.  Here is just one of them.

The Juvenile Collection houses approximately 8,980 books. The Collection is located in McKeldin Library on the first floor in the Current Periodical Room. It consists of materials intended for children in pre-school through tenth grade. The Juvenile Collection has circulating and noncirculating books.

The Juvenile Award collection is a small non-circulating collection of Newbery and Caldecott Medal Winners and Honor books with the call number, 810. Each award book has a circulating copy located under another call number.

The collection's strength is its award winning titles, such as the Newbery, Caldecott, Corretta Scott King Award and Pura Belpre Award. Its weakness is the limited number of books within the collection. Being such a small collection, if you are unable to locate children books on a specific topic or a specific title, don't forget to check the holdings on the other USMAI libraries.

Call Numbers in the Juvenile Collections

The most confusing aspect of the Collection is understanding the Call Numbers. You will find books with the following call numbers: Bio , Easy, Fic , Dewey Decimal Call Numbers, Library of Congress Call Numbers.

When you go to the shelves to locate the book, the books are arranged in the following call number order:

  • 1. Bio [Biographies]
  • 2. Easy [Picture Books]
  • 3. Fic [Fiction]
  • 4. Dewey Decimal Call Numbers [000=999]
  • 5. Library of Congress Call Numbers [A-Z]
  • 6. Juvenile Award (810) NON-CIRCULATING BOOKS
  • International Children's Digital Library
    Read children's books from all over the world. The Library offers free access to exemplary works from more than 42 countries. The ICDL collection includes 4431 books in 54 languages.