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Scoring criteria list:
- Pictures and Diagrams
- Referenceability
- Direct usefulness to library study
- Pedagogical (teaching) value
- Complexity in Language
- Realism
- Readability
Note that I devised these criteria based on what I, a science degree graduate who enrolled in a TAFE course about Library Services, would value when consulting a book for helpful knowledge.
Other extant criteria for evaluating sources like CAPOW or CRAAP or whatever were too generalised to be helpful to this particular case.
The ‘moral of the story’ here might be to invent your own solutions to unique problems, or in the words of Big Weld…
📖 Jed’s Library Book Review Database
Scoring Guide explained
Books are reviewed in terms of a series of characteristics/parameters/aspects. Each characteristic is scored on a scale of 0 (worst) to 5 (best).
These characteristics are described as follows:
- Pictures and Diagrams: This is the ‘visual appeal’ that a given book has. By including pictures, diagrams, photographs, or even unconventional features such as pop-up flaps or QR codes that lead to online resources, an author can allow a book to communicate ideas to the reader in another dimension and broaden its appeal to a wider variety of readers. ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’, after all.
- Examples of books that would score highly on ‘Diagrams' are Visual Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (such as many of the DK books), Pop up books, Graphic Novels and Manga, some illustrated children’s books, etc.
- ‘Magus of the Library’ and ‘The Library - a World History’ are titles in the book review database that score highly in ‘Pictures and Diagrams’
- Referencability/Ease of Navigation: This is all about navigating a book and how easy it is to find information within its pages. Features such as a table of contents, index, a glossary, or even something as simple as page numbers, can go a long way into helping a reader seek out particular idea among the forest of paper between the book’s covers.
- Examples of books that would score highly in ‘Referencability’ are most textbooks (highschool or university level), some junior nonfiction books
- Direct usefulness to library study: This would be if a given title would include material that can be directly used for lessons and assessments in the vocational library courses (Cert III, Cert IV, and Diploma of Library and Information Services)
- Pedagogical (teaching) value: Pedagogy is essentially the practice of teaching. Certain books are designed to supplement teachers’ lessons or act as an independent study guide by including features such as lesson/chapter summaries, learning outcomes, learning activities like fill in the blanks, practice questions + solutions, case studies to exemplify concepts, memory aids/mnemonics, or anything else that can help someone actively engage with the material rather than passively consume it without contemplation.
- A curious example would be the ‘Head First’ book series since they are authored and designed with the intention of providing useful information in digestible chunks by emphasizing active learning strategies.
- Pearson’s series of highschool textbooks come in three varieties: Student Book (SB), Activity Book, and Teacher’s Companion
- The books in the ‘Library Education Series’ are exemplary in their inclusion of pedagogical elements (practice questions for each chapter, and solutions to those practice questions at the end of each book)
- Complexity in Language: The complexity of a text’s language is about how far removed the writing style of the book is from prose or everyday conversation, and how difficult it would be for a layperson to comprehend.
- Anything academic or for professionals and practitioners of various disciplines would score highly in ‘Complexity in Language’. Articles from academic journals definitely count.
- Realism: Some texts give a high-level or broad overview that may provide some conceptual organisation (e.g., the brain has two hemispheres and several lobes from the frontal lobe at the anterior to the occipital lobe at the posterior), but not enough info for a reader to perform a useful task themselves (e.g., knowing about the general structure of the brain is nowhere enough to successfully remove a glioblastoma tumor)
- A recipe book would likely be an example of a resource that scores highly in ‘Realism’ since the aim of a recipe book is to instruct a reader to prepare assorted dishes by following detailed, actionable steps.
- Readability: Readability is how subjectively pleasant or enjoyable the experience of reading through a text is. It probably depends on a variety of factors such as the intended audience and subject matter, but obvious issues such as typos, grammatical errors, or oversimplified language can easily detract from readability. Some other nuances, perhaps the use of active voice rather than passive voice, or failing to provide adequate examples to substantiate arguments, may also make a text less readable than it ought to be.
- Most books that are ‘bestsellers’ would probably have high readability because they are designed to be consumed rapidly. Many books in the Harry Potter series are said to have been read in one sitting by audiences of different ages.
In case a physical printout would be more convenient (and help to relieve screen fatigue), attached below 📎⬇️ is a 1-page word doc version
Book review scoring guide.docx
| Score out of 5→ (listed across) |
Lowest is zero (0) |
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Highest is five (5) |
| Characteristics (listed below) |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
| Pictures and diagrams |
|
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(How much visual appeal does the resource have?) | None
No pictures, diagrams, photographs, or any other graphics/visuals whatsoever are present in the text | A few
Graphics are interspersed sparsely throughout the pages, but the book is still heavily-reliant on text | Some
Graphics are noticeable and sometimes help to reinforce the ideas in the text, but are not common. | Several
Somewhere between 2 and 4 | Many
The resource relies on the unison of text and graphics in order to deliver its intended messages to the audience, meaning that images are frequent and sufficiently detailed. | Abundant
The includes a subjective abundance of graphics, or roughly equal amounts of text and images (~1:1 ratio), or the images exceed the text.
|
| Reference value of components/Referencability
(How easy is it to locate information in the resource?) | Minimal
Other than page numbers, there is no way of finding key words or ideas (other than taking notes in a separate book or using page tabs) | Has a Table of Contents + page numbers | The previous features +
Title page in detail + index | The previous + Glossary with definitions | The previous + bibliography/links to other relevant sources | The previous + key terms are emphasised + in-text citation is included |
| Direct usefulness to library study
(How useful is this resource for learning library skills or finding answers for course assignments?) | Unhelpful and/or irrelevant | Briefly mentions some library concepts | Mentions library concepts but lacks actionable detail | Somewhere between 2 and 4 | Reasonably relevant, and inspiring or insightful | Highly relevant, informative, instructive and encouraging |
| Pedagogical (teaching) value
(How well is the text designed to support active or course-related learning?) | No learning aids
Just body text. May as well be a novel | Has chapter summaries and/or concept explainers | Previous features + clear learning outcomes | Previous features + review questions/activities | Previous features + thinking tips/mnemonics | Previous features + worked solutions to questions |
| Complexity in language
(How technical or difficult-to-understand is the text?) | Junior-level
Readable by toddlers (e.g., picture book) | Elementary-level
Readable by primary schoolers | Pre-Adolescent-level
Readable by early highschoolers | Young adult-level
Readable by late highschoolers or non-specialists | Adult-level
Readable by students in a tertiary course or astute generalists | Specialist/professional-level,
Readable by experts, practicing professionals, and/or specialists in the field |
| Realism
(How detailed and actionable is the information in the resource?) | Total fantasy, not representative of real world conventions | Fairy tales with ‘morals of the story’ | Fictional but with some basis in reality and educational value | Based in reality or educational but oversimplified | Educational and informative but not directly replicable or instructive | Highly detailed and actionable, like an instruction manual |
| Readability
(How smooth or enjoyable does it feel when reading through the resource?) | Dreary and difficult to read through | Boring and/or needs effort | Okay
Not great, not terrible | Interesting and/or entertaining | Insightful and fascinating | Delightful and enthralling, a ‘page-turner’ or veritable ‘bestseller’ |
| Score out of 5→ (listed across) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
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