LibGuides: With Love from the Library: Collection Development Framework

Expert Resources

Leverage your community for experts! If students are researching specific topics, invite members in the community to identify experts to support students in their learning. Additionally, make sure to track all visitors and experts who have supported the school in a Partnerships document.

Senior Expedition Expert Connections SY1819
Leverage the strength of your community! Invite others to make connections between experts in their network and students researching topics.

Capital City PCS Partnership Document

On this document, teachers are invited to share contact information for experts who have visited the classroom that school year.

Higher Education Learning Resources

Develop partnerships with local higher education centers. With the right connections, many colleges and universities will welcome high school students onto campus to make use of their resources.

Howard University
We prepare diverse, talented and ambitious students to learn, lead and embody excellence in truth and service.
Georgetown University
Intellectual rigor. Social justice. Self-reflection. They’re knitted together in every facet of your Georgetown experience – in your studies, your research, your interactions with faculty and the career decisions you make.
American University
With eight schools and over 170 programs including bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, American University students choose a personalized curriculum of theoretical study and experiential learning, taught by internationally-recognized faculty in courses that take them from the classroom, to the nation’s capital, and all around the globe.
George Washington University
Housed in a city unlike any other, our students gain an education unlike any other. The whole city is our classroom, and our students emerge not just with a diploma, but with experiences that could only happen at GW.
University of the District of Columbia
At UDC, the city isn’t our location; it’s our campus. From the Community College to graduate and professional degrees and more, UDC is active in every ward–providing a quality education and enriching the lives of students, neighbors, and stakeholders alike.

Book Purchasing Resources

Support your indie bookseller! We strongly recommend you try to purchase books from independent vendors.

Indie Bookstore Finder
Now is the time to stand up and join your fellow individuals in the IndieBound mission supporting local businesses and celebrating independents.

Here are some of the independent bookstores we love in DC:

Mahogany Books
MahoganyBooks is a local independent bookstore that believes in social entreprenuership. We take a leadership role in the African American community by promoting reading, writing, and cultural awareness as tools to improve self-esteem, self-love and ultimately our communities to enrich the lives of motivated individuals.
Busboys & Poets Books
As part of our bookstore’s mission, we feature titles, authors, and events throughout the year that highlight these struggles. We also feature a diverse selection of children’s and young adult books that help to engage the community at all levels.
Loyalty Books
We are aiming to be the Mid-Atlantic’s neighborhood spot for wonderful books and unique home goods, gifts, and programming. Our staff and our selection highlight the diverse voices and creatives that make our communities great. When we think about what to feature in our store we focus on how we live in our homes. We provide books and goods for the home because, well, books are home.
East City Books
East City Bookshop has become a gathering place for book lovers of all ages. It’s a place to talk about books and ideas, to learn something new, or to revisit something you once knew well. By offering author events, book clubs, other community events, we want to connect you with the books and ideas you want and need...and some that maybe you didn’t even know you wanted and needed.
Lee and Low Books
LEE & LOW BOOKS is the largest multicultural children's book publisher in the country. We are also one of the few minority-owned publishing companies in the United States. LEE & LOW BOOKS is committed to publishing diverse books that are about everyone, for everyone.
Duende District
Duende District is a collaborative pop-up bookstore by and for people of color -- where all are welcome. We specialize in carrying the best new adult & children's titles by authors of color in English and Spanish. Each Duende District pop-up location offers a uniquely curated & inviting literary space focused on engaging communities of color, while also inviting all people to participate in the experience.

Here are some places you can go to buy books online:

First Book
First Book believes that education is the best way out of poverty for children in need. First Book aims to remove barriers to quality education for all kids by making everything from new, high-quality books and educational resources to sports equipment, winter coats, snacks, and more – affordable to its member network of more than 450,000 educators who exclusively serve kids in need.
Indian Country Books
Indian Country Books by Native Media Network has the largest store selection of books, music, videos, news media and live TV about Native America and other Indigenous bands around the world.
Better World Books
Find and purchase used books at significant savings.
Junior Library Guild
Through this service, teachers can build a book box to match your reader's interest and your library’s budget. Also search their back catalog for discounted titles.

Book Festival Resources

Visit a book festival to hear from authors, and learn about great new books for your school. Here are some of the festivals in the DMV that we love:

Bookreporter: Book Festivals Across the Country
Keep track of upcoming book festivals that are happening all over the country on this website!
The Asian American Literature Festival
The Asian American Literature Festival is a new model of literary programming: literature meets the museum. It is a convening, engine, and incubator. It is a community-generated cooperative space with dynamic, interactive programming for sharing and growing Asian American literature.
National Book Festival
More than 140 authors, illustrators and poets will make presentations on stages dedicated to kids, fiction, history, biography, poetry, science and more. Many fascinating thematic programs and panel discussions will be offered throughout the festival.
East of the River Book Festival
The East of the River Book Festival is a magnet for city dwellers from all wards to enjoy a literary event that highlights the efforts of indie writers, small publishers and independent book shops. This festival will inspire and excite those who enjoy culturally diverse books and have an interest in self-publishing.
Baltimore Book Festival
The Baltimore Book Festival features hundreds of appearances by local, celebrity and nationally known authors, book signings, more than 100 exhibitors and booksellers, nonstop readings on multiple stages, cooking demos by top chefs, poetry readings, workshops, panel discussions, storytellers and hands-on projects for kids, live music, and a thoughtfully curated food, craft beer, and wine program.

Museum Resources

Librarians love museums, and vice versa! Make sure to make connections with local museum educators, or access online museum resources.

Anacostia Community Museum
The Anacostia Community Museum is a community museum in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is one of twenty museums under the umbrella of the Smithsonian Institution and was the first federally funded community museum in the United States.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. It was established by Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans.
National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is part of the Smithsonian Institution and is committed to advancing knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Western Hemisphere—past, present, and future—through partnership with Native people and others.
The Smithsonian Latino Center
The Smithsonian Latino Center is the corazón of Latinidad at the Smithsonian. It works toward preserving Latino history and culture, engaging Latino communities, and advancing Latino representation in the United States. Since 1997, SLC has successfully ensured that the contributions of the Latino community are celebrated and represented throughout the Smithsonian.
Smithsonian Learning Lab
The Smithsonian Learning Lab puts the treasures of the world's largest museum, education, and research complex within reach. The Lab is a free, interactive platform for discovering millions of authentic digital resources, creating content with online tools, and sharing in the Smithsonian's expansive community of knowledge and learning.

General Resources

Find great resources by searching great websites. These are some of our go-to sites for information on topics, lesson plans, and to learn about new books.

Teaching for Change
Teaching for Change provides teachers and parents with the tools to create schools where students learn to read, write and change the world.
Teaching Tolerance
Our mission is to help teachers and schools educate children and youth to be active participants in a diverse democracy.
The Conscious Kid
The Conscious Kid is an education, research and policy organization dedicated to reducing bias and promoting positive identity development in youth. We partner with organizations, children’s museums, schools, and families across the country to promote access to children’s books centering underrepresented and oppressed groups.
Well Read Black Girl
Since launching in 2015, WRBG has steadily grown into a thriving online community of 237K passionate Instagram followers. Our goal is to showcase the universality of Black women through literature. Through reading our community addresses racial inequity in publishing and pays homage to the literary legacies of Black women writers like Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Maya Angelou.
The Free Black Women's Library
The Free Black Women's Library, is an interactive Black Feminist mobile trading library and interactive biblio installation that features a collection of 1000 books written by Black women. The library is committed to centering and celebrating the voices of Black Women in literature.
EmbraceRace
EmbraceRace is a multiracial community of parents, teachers, experts, and other caring adults who support each other to meet the challenges that race poses to our children, families, and communities. We welcome your participation.
American Indians in Children's Literature
Established in 2006, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society. Scroll down for links to book reviews, Native media, and more.
1000 Black Girl Books Resource Guide
A resource guide created from the #1000blackgirlbooks campaign led by Marley Dias.
Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books
Children’s books continue to be an invaluable source of information and values. They reflect the attitudes in our society about diversity, power relationships among different groups of people, and various social identities (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, economic class, sexual orientation, and disability). The visual and verbal messages young children absorb from books (and other media) heavily influence their ideas about themselves and others. Depending on the quality of the book, they can reinforce (or undermine) children’s affirmative self-concept, teach accurate (or misleading) information about people of various identities, and foster positive (or negative) attitudes about diversity. Children’s books teach children about who is important, who matters, who is even visible. Consequently, carefully choosing quality children’s books is an indispensable educational and child-rearing task.

Lexile & Just-Right Reading Resources

Find resources that correspond with your students' lexiles and/or reading levels. These resources can help you limit your search for resources by age or reading level.

Find a Book from Lexile
Using a student’s Lexile reader measure as a starting point, it’s easy to find books that provide the just-right amount of challenge to advance their reading skill development. Explore below all of the ways you can find materials with the content that sparks student interest and is also the right level of difficulty.
Lexile Analyzer
Create a free account with Lexile in order to use this resource. Lexile Analyzer uses an algorithm to evaluate the reading demand — or text complexity — of books, articles and other materials that you copy and paste into a text field or upload via document.

Novelist This link opens in a new window
Check your local library for access to this service! Novelist Plus is a subscription service that provides reading recommendations for both fiction and nonfiction, for all ages. NoveList's expertise in books and reading means that you'll always get the best help for finding just the right books.

Book Wizard
Level your classroom library or find books at just the right level for students with Book Wizard, the book finder from Scholastic.

Newsela Pro This link opens in a new window
The Middle and High School have purchased a Site License for the Pro account. Each Newsela text is offered at multiple tiers, for every student, no matter their level. Now students can study the same content and learn at their own pace—while teachers save time and headaches.

High/Low Books for Children (Reading Rockets)
High/low books offer highly engaging age-appropriate subject matter at a low reading level for struggling readers. High/low books can help build reading fluency, vocabulary, background knowledge, and interest in reading.

Public Library Resources

Make the most of your public library. In addition to books, check out the online resources available for research. Many libraries also offer teacher cards, which may let you check out more materials than a traditional card. Even if you don't live in the district you teach, teachers should be allowed to get a library card for that district. Check out your local library website for more information!

Find your Public LIbrary
Use this resource to find the website of your local library.
DCPL
Using a link below, visit the page for a library in your neighborhood for the latest events, news and updates plus all the normal information you’d expect to see like hours and locations. Find the closest library to you by visiting our Hours and Locations page.
Library of Congress
Welcome Message from Carla Hayden, 14th Librarian of Congress
more...less...
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.

The Library preserves and provides access to a rich, diverse and enduring source of knowledge to inform, inspire and engage you in your intellectual and creative endeavors. Whether you are new to the Library of Congress or an experienced researcher, we have a world-class staff ready to assist you online and in person.

I encourage you to visit the Library of Congress in person in Washington, D.C., explore the Library online from wherever you are and connect with us on social media.

Sincerely,
Carla Hayden
Librarian of Congress

Check out your local library websites!

Dekalb County Public Libraries: Research Databases
Check out what research databases are available to you in Dekalb County, GA.
Dekalb County Public Libraries: Get your Library Card
Denver Public Library: Research Resources
Check out what research databases are available to you in Denver, CO.
Denver Public Library: Get your Educator Card
Detroit Public Library: Research Databases
Check out what research databases are available to you in Detroit, MI.
Detroit Public Library System: Get your card
Monroe County Library Systems
Check out what research databases are available to you in Monroe County, NY.
Monroe County Library Systems: Get your Card
Queens Public Library: Research Databases
Check out what research databases are available to you in Queens, NY.
New York Public Library: Educator Cards
Nevada City Library: Digital Resources
Check out what research databases are available to use in Nevada City, CA.

Advocacy and Curriculum

We Need Diverse Books
Imagine a world in which all children can see themselves in the pages of a book.
Anti-bias Education Articles
We feature 104 free downloadable (PDF) articles on anti-bias early childhood education. These articles are presented in the categories of curriculum, identity development, language development, and parent/family resources. Nearly all of the articles are available in English and Spanish.
Educator Grants
Interested in replicating a Teaching Tolerance Educator Grant project in your classroom, school or district? Explore this list of past projects, and pick one that’s right for your students and your context.
Social justice Standards
The Social Justice Standards are a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K–12 instruction. Comprised of anchor standards and age-appropriate learning outcomes, the Standards provide a common language and organizational structure educators can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable.
Project LIT
Empower students as READERS and LEADERS in their school and community.
Host monthly or quarterly Project LIT Book Clubs.
Flood our schools and communities with high-quality, culturally relevant books.
Champion & celebrate reading daily.
Inspire and support one another through sharing of lesson plans, resources, strategies, and book recommendations.
Create opportunities for students to connect with peers around the country.
Advocate for policies & practices that will help our students become lifelong leaders.