The Linda Lucas Walling Collection...

...was established at the BEST Center, located at the South Carolina State Library, when Professor Walling retired from USC's School of Library and Information Science. The collection is designed to provide self-instruction on selecting and evaluating (1) materials for children with disabilities and (2) materials about children with disabilities. The collection includes sub-collections of professional resources, books for children with disabilities, books about children with disabilities, and winners of two recently established awards, the Dolly Gray Award and the Schneider Family Award. These awards are given for books about children with disabilities. The South Carolina State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped will provide a small demonstration collection of materials in special formats, and the collection will eventually include some examples of adaptive toys and similar things.

Selecting Materials for the Collection:

The children's books purchased for the collection, with the exception of the award books, were selected because they are discussed in one of three sources. The first source from which titles were selected is an expanded version of "Ability, Disability, and Picture Books," an article Professor Walling wrote which was published in School Libraries Worldwide in July, 2001. The second source is an unpublished article Professor Walling wrote titled "Books About Children with Disabilities." The third source is a chapter by Coy Hunsucker, a long-time children's librarian at Cincinnati Hamilton County (Ohio) Public Library. She has worked with children with disabilities since the 1960s. The chapter, titled "Sharing Literature with Children with Mental Retardation," appeared in Information Services for People with Developmental Disabilities, which Professor Walling co-edited in 1995 with Marilyn Irwin, a faculty member at Indiana University. The collection includes mostly books for younger children, although there are some books for older children and young adults. It is anticipated that more books for older children will be added to the collection.

The materials in the Professional sub-collection include books and other materials that were donated by Professor Walling from her personal collection. More professional materials will be added as they are identified.

Books for Children with Disabilities in the Collection:

These books are ordinary children's books that you might find in any public library or school media center collection. Libraries do not necessarily need to invest their collection development funds in special formats to meet the needs of children with disabilities. In the chapter and in the articles from which titles were chosen, the books were evaluated for their usefulness with children who have deficits or special strengths in certain areas. Why special strengths, you may ask? Because a child with a disability also has abilities, sometimes great strengths. For example, a child who cannot use his or her arms and legs may have strong linguistic or visual skills. Think of Christy Brown, the gifted artist, author and poet, whose story was told in the book and movie My Left Foot. Selecting materials for a child with a disability means taking into account his or her abilities and strengths, not just the disability.

Using the Collection:

It is suggested that individuals who wish to use the collection read the source articles and the chapter on which the collection is based. The articles are available on this Web page. People in the Columbia area can find a copy of the book in which the Hunsucker chapter appears in the LLW Collection professional sub-collection.

Each of the children's books in the collection has its own insert that provides the self-instruction component of the collection. On the insert one can find evaluative information and suggested uses of the book with a child who has a disability. An individual, after reading the inserts and examining the books, can feel prepared to pick up any children's book and evaluate it for use with a child who has a disability. Questions may be referred to Professor Walling at .