Career Index A Selective Bibliography for Elementary Schools

Subjects:

• Education » Guidance & Counseling
• Education » Tests & Measurements

Reviews:

• . . . Baldauf's Career Index has more limited use. It is `designed to help teachers, librarians, guidance counselors, parents and students themselves identify materials to increase career awareness' for children in kindergarten through sixth grade. More than 1,000 items (books, filmstrips, cassettes, and videotapes) are roughly organized as `general' career information or under 18 categories such as animal care, arts, business, communication, construction, and education. Entries give author; title; publisher; date; length; suggested grades; abbreviations noting index, bibliography, maps, photos, etc.; plus a one-sentence description. One unique feature of this work as `career' information is that it includes many biographies (Janet Jackson and Tina Turner under `Musicians,' Ralph Nader and Sandra Day O'Connor under `Law' ), as well as some fiction. Sports biographies are specifically excluded `due to the sheer number of them.' The book is indexed by author, biographee, and occupation. Publication dates range from the early 1970s to the 1989 biography of Winnie and Nelson Mandela, with lots of basic A Day in the Life of . . . or I can be a . . . titles. Perhaps Baldauf tried to be too inclusive--such titles as Famous Firsts of Black Americans or Reluctant Warrior: Ulysses S. Grant are hardly illustrative of career opportunities today. But some children's collections may want this for collection development or to guide their patrons to what already exists on the shelves.
  —Reference Books Bulletin
• Career Index fulfills its more modest ambitions as capably . . . Within career clusters (e.g., animal care, education, an law), it, too identifies books and audiovisual materials on some fifty careers, among them circus workers, journalists, farmers, ranchers, postal workers, marine scientists, and home-makers. All of the 1,066 items are appropriatefor children in kindergarten through sixth grade. The brief descriptive annotations note gradelevel and the presence of a bibliography, photographs, an index, or other features. Because they "can play an inspirational role in career education," biographies and autobiographies have been included. Of the three indexes (author, title, and biographee), the last is the most useful. Children's and school librarians will find this useful as both a collection development tool and a reference guide.
  —Wilson Library Bulletin
• . . . This is a good beginning bibliography for elementary school career materials and is more approachable for elementary school students than other existing sources.
  —Reference Quarterly
• Looking for materials on a career as a chemist? Career Index: A Selective Bibliography for Elementary Schools is designed to ease location of print and nonprint career sources. Works covered are nonfiction and include biographies except for sports figures. Each of the 1,066 entries includes basic bibliographical information, a grade-level recommendation, a one-sentence annotation, and abbreviations denoting such features as maps or photographs. Balduaf provides indexes by author, biographee and occupation.
  —American Libraries

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• General
• Animal Care
• Arts and Entertainment
• Business and Office
• Communication
• Construction
• Education
• Farming and Fishing
• Forestry and Natural Resources
• Health Care
• Law
• Manufacturing and Industry
• Public Service and Government
• Religion
• Sales
• Science, Mathematics and Technology
• Service
• Space and Exploration
• Sports and Recreation
• Transportation
• Author Index
• Biographee Index
• Subject Index