How to Manage Your Book Collection

myON’s core collection is built from titles intended for students in grades K-9, and the recommendation engine limits the titles suggested to students based on their grade level. However, it’s possible for a student to browse books by category or even do a keyword search to locate books that are outside the student's grade. This is less likely because the myON sorting algorithm puts books most appropriate for the student’s grade at the top of the results.

We have a collection development policy for our core collection of titles (included with every license of myON):

• Title selection: We add 250 titles a year to the myON core collection. These titles are published by Capstone Publishers and reviewed in-depth before myON selects the very best titles to add to our collection.
• Collection placement: Once the titles are converted to the myON digital format, we review the content and add it to the most appropriate collection. We have 3 core collections: titles intended for younger audiences, titles intended for elementary school students, and titles intended for secondary students.
• Title reviews: If we hear of a district issue with a title, we review the problematic title in greater depth and validate the collection and grade-level recommendations.
• Tools for managing your book collection: We also provide tools that districts and schools can use to manage the use of their myON book collection. These include settings for deciding when students can read books above their grade level, whether Building Administrators can set minimum grade levels for specific books and hide some book collections, and whether a rotating banner of showcased books will be shown to students.

Settings for Managing Your Book Collection

District Administrators

District administrators can use the settings to manage when students can read books above their grade level, whether building administrators can set minimum grade levels for specific books and hide some collections, and whether a rotating banner of showcased books will be shown to students.

To get to these settings, district administrators select My District, then Account, and then the Account Options tab.

Then, go to the Library Management section of the Account Options page. The first few settings let you set which grades are allowed to read books above their grade level (based on the book publisher's recommended grade range for each book), whether building administrators are allowed to set minimum grade levels for books, and whether students are allowed to read books above their grade level when faculty have assigned those books in a project. Note that each setting lets you choose what building administrators can do to manage book collections.

The next two settings let you choose whether building administrators can hide some book collections for students in their building and whether students and teachers will see a rotating banner of books that are being showcased each month (US sites only). You can choose to let building administrators decide whether to show the rotating banner to students and teachers in their buildings.

When you've finished changing the settings, select Save at the top of the page.

Building Administrators

For building administrators, the settings that are available depend on the choices that the district administrator has made.

To get to the settings, building administrators select My School, then Account, and then the Settings tab.

Go to the Library Management settings. Depending on the choices the district administrator made, you may be able to choose which grades are allowed to read books above their grade level in your building, whether students may read books above their grade level when those books are assigned through projects, and whether a rotating banner of showcased books will be shown to students and teachers (US sites only).

When you've finished changing the settings, select Save at the top of the page.

Managing Book Collections for a Building

If the settings allow building administrators to choose which book collections are available in their building, building administrators can hide some book collections. For more information, see How to View Building Information and Collections (Building Administrator).

Setting Minimum Grade Levels for Books

If the settings allow building administrators to set minimum grade levels for books intended for older students, building administrators can follow these steps:

1. From the Building Administrator dashboard, select My School, then Account, and then the Books tab.
   
2. Use the first drop-down list (Search by collection) to choose the * Capstone Core Collection for Upper Elementary and Older Students.
   
   You can use the remaining drop-down lists to narrow the list by the set minimum grade, the publisher, or the series. You can also use the Added drop-down list to focus on books added recently.
   
3. Select Search.
   
4. Check the box at the top of the first column to select all of the books in the collection.
   
5. Click the Set min grade of selected to drop-down list and choose a minimum grade of 5th or 6th grade (or higher, depending on your school). Note: If this drop-down list is not available, the district administrator does not allow building administrators to set minimum grades for books.
   
6. Select Save. At this point, these books will not display for any of your younger students (even if explicitly searched for). You can do the same for other collections.
   

Building administrators and district administrators can also set a minimum grade level for individual books. To do so, find the book in your library by browsing or searching; then, select the book. In the bottom left corner of the book information window, use the drop-down list to set a minimum grade level for the book. Note: Building administrators will not see this drop-down list if district administrators don't allow them to set minimum grade levels for books.