The first thing to understand about the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) is that, though it’s full of children’s books, it’s not a children’s library.
Established in 1963, the CCBC is what director Tessa Michaelson Schmidt ’00, MA’05 calls an examination center, a place where teachers and librarians can go to consult with experts and learn about what kinds of books are being published for children.
“We came from an idea from Wisconsin librarians who initially were looking for a state repository of historical children’s books,” says Schmidt. “It was determined that the thing that would be most valuable to Wisconsin teachers and librarians was an examination center for new books. In many ways, our existence has been following that request for many years.”
Each year, the CCBC receives and catalogues between 3,000 and 4,000 new books. It holds on to those books for 12 to 18 months, keeping only a few hundred for its basic collection — those recommended for children and teens, such as public and school libraries. CCBC also maintains a reference collection — books about children’s literature — and a historical collection, a small set of books that its librarians deem of important value to the field of children’s literature.
Though there are only three librarians currently on CCBC’s staff, they continually evaluate books and share their findings with schools, making several outreach trips around the state each year, “traveling with boxes full of books [to give teachers and librarians] that hands-on book-examination experience,” says Schmidt. Almost all school and public libraries face cost concerns and have to decide carefully what they purchase. “Seeing a book and having it in your hands can really determine if this is something that matches the needs of the collection criteria.”
