- Atlases are one of the things I think you should update frequently. 10
years sounds like a good mark and is what I use. I keep most of my non-fiction for 20-25 years, but as countries change often, atlases get refreshed more. I believe that European countries are changed since 1998--Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia. Those will have an impact on country reports, as European countries are often selected.
- I personally think more than ten years olds is too old. Kids should
have access to current information.
- You are in a difficult position as your supervisor has given you very
questionable instruction. It is extremely disrespectful to minimalize the information needs of children based on their age, but in this case it is inaccurate as well. Children and young adults are at least as likely as adults to seek geographic information since they are the ones assigned reports, etc. I sincerely doubt that a teacher would find this reasoning an acceptable excuse for a student with the wrong information in an assignment.
The first link below is a good place to look for country name information, but don't forget the World Almanac. You need to get a new one every year. http://www.mapping.com/changes.shtml
The second link below will take you to the CREW Manual published by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. It is old and I believe undergoing revision, but the information serves as a guideline for evaluating your resources when used with your professional judgment. I've cut and pasted the paragraph about atlases.
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/index.html
Atlases - Usually revised every five years, geographical atlases should be replaced when updated. Older editions may still be useful to historians, but should be housed separately since most patrons will not check the copyright date, assuming that the library has provided the most current information. Relatively inexpensive road atlases can be replaced annually.
It is better to be without geographical atlases and force your patrons to use online sources or current almanacs and encyclopedias than to knowingly provide inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated information.
- I'm shocked that your boss gave you that answer! Of course you should
update your Atlas section. Of course you should give kids accurate information. That's what we're here for.
As for name changes; here's an incomplete list of country name changes since 1990
http://www.mapping.com/changes.shtml
But even if no names had changed;you would still need to update. Lots of other things have. Political boundaries; population; land use and our knowledge of the planet. To answer your original question; I update when new editions become available.
National Geographic World Atlas For Young Explorers, Third Edition 1426300883 just came out in August. It's excellent and very reasonably priced. I beg you to get it.
And for the states; there's National Geographic United States Atlas For Young Explorers,Third Edition. 142630255X coming out in June 2008. Please!
- The CREW method manual (see link)
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/background.html
advocates replaced atlases whenever a new edition is published.
I think that it would matter very much to kids that atlases are accurate. What if they are doing a book report and need information about a country. Atlases hold all kinds of information that kids might access in addition to the obvious name of country and capital. (population, gnp, etc.)
At 10 years old, in my opinion, your atlases are sorely out of date and you are doing your student patrons a disservice. What if they copied the information and turned it in on a report; and subsequently were marked down because they had the wrong information?
All that said -- I buy atlases every year. I weed the oldest ones and buy new and interesting ones. To offer full disclosure, my library has a healthy budget that can afford to order the atlases for both circulating and reference.
If your NEWEST atlas is over 10 years old, you need to get some new ones!! (my opinion only, of course )
- Um, it won't matter to most kids? Since when do kids rate
inferior/incorrect information because they're not old enough to vote? The kid who turns in a geography assignment with Yugoslavia, East Germany or the like as an answer sure would think it matters when it gets handed back with a bad grade! I don't think we have an in-stone policy saying update every X years, but I sure would update atlases that are more than 10 years old. I'd consider at least every 2-3 years.
- We update our atlases every 5 years or after a major political event
such as the breakup of the Soviet Union.
- I think the rule of thumb for geography materials is to replace them
every 5 years. It's not just country name changes that might be out of date, but the country profiles will have changed (population, etc). And you never know what a kid might be assigned for a report--is it Burma or Myanmar?
- In our library system (city of Los Angeles), we get rid of
country books after 5 years and states after 7 years. This would include atlases. Usually I replace the books with newer editions; we also have current circulating encylopedias and a lot of excellent online resources/databases (and CIA factbook, etc) so I will turn to those resources rather than giving out old/outdated information.
As one of my colleagues says, "You can't go home with the book." Some of the information in the book may be current, some not... and you're not going to be there to help the kids figure it out.