A comparison of selection tool sources for developing collections of books about American Indians: General and specialized tools

National education standards in social studies and language arts changed to include the histories and contributions of people of color. Multicultural materials increased in publication to address the change in perspectives. During the 1990s the anniversary of Columbus' voyage (1992) resulted in a surge in the number of children's books about American Indians. Debates concerning the accuracy of reviews of children's books about American Indians surfaced as library media specialists sought book reviews to identify books to support the curriculum. A content analysis was conducted of 1,841 children's book reviews and about American Indians published between 1990 and 2000. Reviews from 5 standard, 5 multicultural and 5 specialized American Indian tools along with review criteria were investigated. Review characteristics (new authors, established authors, American Indian authors, major & small press publishers, reviewer background, format, recommended, not recommended, average word count, and total reviews) in standard tools were compared with the same characteristics in multicultural and specialized tools. The data suggest a propensity toward convergence in coverage of reviews in standard and multicultural tools. The differences between standard review characteristics and multicultural review characteristics are 6% or less. When the characteristics in standard tools are compared with those in specialized American Indian tools, little convergence of coverage is found. The differences between standard and American Indian tools show a double digit difference ranging from a low of 10% to a high of 34%. When review criteria and background of reviewers is compared between standard, multicultural and specialized tools, the data suggest that multicultural tools serve as bridge between standard and specialized tools. The data suggest that standard tools do not provide criteria to reviewers to discern negative stereotypes of American Indians in children's books. The data comparing review criteria used by multicultural tools and specialized tools show guidance is given to reviewers to discern negative stereotypes in children's books. The research suggest that school library media specialists who need to identify the largest number of culturally accurate books by and about American Indians are best served by using multicultural and specialized American Indian selection tools.