Schools: How to create custom book lists

Tags: Staff, Media Specialists, Book Lists

Creating personalized book lists, or “booklists, in Beanstack is a great way to build a culture of reading in your school community by suggesting specific titles that students or staff can read and discuss together.

1. Log in to the admin view of your school site.

2. Navigate to Content > Book Lists.

3. Click “Create a Book List.”

4. Add a title and description.

   • You can also upload a banner image for your list, but this is optional. If you choose to add an image, it be at least 625 pixels wide and be in .jpeg or .png format.

5. Under the “Reading List Information” section, either leave the location set for your site or link out to a reading list on another site (e.g., a list within a library catalog or on a different web page).

6. Pick which grades will see the book list as a recommendation. You can select one or more grades.

7. Choose any genres or keywords that apply to your list.

8. Click “Create” when finished.

   • You’ll then be brought to the page for the newly created list.

9. To add/remove books, click the “Add a Book to This List” button near the upper right.

   • You can also go back to Content > Book Lists and click the “Add/Remove Books” icon button to the right of the list name.

   • Note: If you can’t see your list under “Showing” tab, it will be under the “Created by Us” tab.

10. Enter the title or author or both and click “Search.”

    • If the title and information do not appear, toggle over to the “Web Search” tab and enter the title, author, and/or ISBN to locate the correct version of your book.

11. Select the desired book and click “OK” to add it to the list.

12. Repeat steps 10-11 to add more books, and then click the “X” in the upper right corner to return to the book list page.

    • Note: You may need to refresh your page to see the newly added books.

13. When you’re ready to display the list to your students, click the box in the “Show?” column.

    • A green check mark will appear and the book list will also register in the “Showing” tab.

14. To see your displayed book list, switch to the reader view and go to the “Recommendations” tab.