'Elementary School Collection' Publishes Its Last Edition

Don't look for the next edition of the Elementary School Library Collection (ESLC). Brodart, which has published the well-known selection guide for more than 35 years, pulled the plug on the series in late May. Editor Linda Homa says ESLCfell victim to increased competition. "When ESLC started in 1965," she says, "school librarians had very little to help guide them with collection development. Now things are so different. There are so many ways to get that information." For instance, says Homa, publishers, vendors, and, in many cases, other Brodart services provide the kind of descriptive information about books that formed the bulk of the ESLC guide. Homa says she and her staff were in the midst of compiling the 23rd edition of ESLC when company officials announced the decision to end publication. That means the last edition is the 22nd, released in 2000 in print and on CD-ROM. The company plans to introduce a new, Web-based selection guide for K–12 schools. That product will focus on titles that support school curriculums, an area, Homa says, that customers have requested.