Niagara University Library: Children's Literature Collection

Niagara University Library
Children's Literature Collection

The Children's Literature Collection is located on the first floor of the building at the front of the Current Journals display area. You can view a list of books in the collection through the Library Catalog, where you can browse through what we call Curriculum Materials, which are mostly picture books and juvenile and young adult fiction, with a smaller number of children's nonfiction books. The collection is also searchable via keyword. For example, you can use the Advanced Search feature of the Library Catalog and limit a search to just materials in the Children's Literature Collection:

Of course, you would substitute your own terms for the word animals. Please note you are not limited to just searching for concrete objects or things. You can search for concepts as well. For example, you could type friendship instead of animals.

In order to maximize retrieval, each book is assigned numerous subject headings that represent what the book is about. As the collection grows larger, you will be able to find a greater number of books on specialized themes. Please remember, however, that the Library uses what is called authority control to ensure consistency of subject headings in the Library Catalog. This means that sometimes you will have experiment with wording until you hit the right subject heading. For example, siblings is not a subject heading, but brothers and sisters is.

The collection is also designed to be browsed at the shelves. Books are grouped thematically. Nonfiction books are located throughout the call number range, depending upon the subject, except at call number PZ, which is reserved for fiction. PZ is arranged like this:

Picture Story Books       PZ 9.10
   Wordless               PZ 9.11
   Predictable            PZ 9.13
   Alphabet               PZ 9.15
   Concept                PZ 9.17
   Math                   PZ 9.17.2
   Toy/Movable            PZ 9.19

Poetry                    PZ 9.30
   Humorous               PZ 9.34
   Nursery Rhymes         PZ 9.36

Traditional Fiction       PZ 9.50
   Fairy Tales            PZ 9.52
   Folktales              PZ 9.53
   Fables                 PZ 9.55
   Tall Tales             PZ 9.57
   Myth                   PZ 9.58
   Religious              PZ 9.59

Fantasy Fiction           PZ 9.70
   Animal Stories         PZ 9.71
   Adventure              PZ 9.73
   High Fantasy           PZ 9.75
   Horror                 PZ 9.76
   Humorous               PZ 9.77
   Supernatural           PZ 9.78

Science Fiction           PZ 9.79

Reality Based Fiction     PZ 9.80
   Adventure              PZ 9.81
   Foreign                PZ 9.81.1
   Regional (US/Canada)   PZ 9.81.2
   Formula Stories        PZ 9.82
   Historical             PZ 9.83
   Humorous               PZ 9.84
   Multicultural          PZ 9.85
   Mystery and Detective  PZ 9.86
   New Realism            PZ 9.87
   Sports Stories         PZ 9.88

Caldecott Awards          PZ 20.2
Newbery Awards            PZ 20.4

You can do a Subject Keyword search of all of the words and phrases above except traditional fiction, which is a category, not a subject heading. The Library also provides access to some Databases Suitable for Children