Interesting topic. In my library, I solved it by colored dots. I shelve by
Dewey, but use colored dots to indicate where specific genres are located:
Yellow for Spanish, Orange for Halloween, Green for Holidays, Red for Life
Skills, Purple for Mystery. You can purchase the little genre stickers too.
Karen Tukua, MLIS, LMT
Cambridge Elementary School
Concord, CA 94520
librarykaren@hotmail.com
"What a school thinks about its library, is a measure of what it thinks
about education."
Harold Howe, former U.S. Commissioner of Education
>From: "Balas, Tali" <TBalas@ECFS.ORG>
>Reply-To: "Balas, Tali" <TBalas@ECFS.ORG>
>To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>Subject: Re: [LM_NET] GEN, MID/SEC: Reorganizing Fiction by Genre
>Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2005 15:59:08 -0500
>
>This discussion has had us debating all day so I figured I would post to
>everyone.
>Using the argument that this is the way we have always done it does not
>invalidate the the idea that shelving by genre might better serve our
>constituency. It does seem that library patrons are not happy with the way
>we arrange the our books which is why so many of them use Barnes and Noble
>instead. Children constantly come in asking for books by genre and it is
>much more difficult to find them when they are shelved by author. In an
>elementary school using the computer can hamper a child's ability to find
>books so only connecting the books that way doesn't actually make it
>easier.
>How much do we want to emphasize the process over giving children access?
>In
>our catalog, if you type in mystery you will find 330 titles. How do we
>expect a fourth grader to browse the catalog to find a book that looks
>interesting? It just becomes overwhelming. And while it is easy for us to
>skim through the catalog this way, the question becomes does it make sense
>to kids? Does this actually teach children that libraries are just
>unfriendly places?
>On the other hand, learning to read and alphabetical order are skills we
>really try and teach children so keeping books by author supports the
>curriculum, both ours and the classrooms'. Arranging books by genre might
>also split an author's body of work into several different areas, however,
>it would still be easier to track an author than a genre in the catalog.
>Also, deciding which genre certain books fall into is much less concrete
>than shelving by author and the next person at your job might not
>understand
>why you put Coraline in Fantasy and not Horror. The sheer amount of time
>and
>energy it would take to redo a collection is definitely an issue as well.
>We're not really sure where we stand on this, but it does have us thinking
>:
>) We're now considering polling the students and faculty to see what they
>think.
>
>Thanks so much for such an invigorating topic.
>
>Tali Balas
>Librarian, PreK - 3
>Ethical Culture Fieldston School
>tbalas@ecfs.org
>212.712.6293
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: School Library Media & Network Communications
>[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU]On Behalf Of Deb Evers
>Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 12:13 PM
>To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>Subject: GEN, MID/SEC: Reorganizing Fiction by Genre
>
>
>The October, 2005 issue of Library Media Connection included an article
>written by Middle School LMS Elizabeth P. Dumas. The article, "Give 'Em
>What
>They Want: Reorganizing Your Fiction Collection by Genre," outlined steps
>to
>"merchandise" the fiction collection by rearranging and shelving fiction in
>like groups (Mystery, Historical fiction, Romance, Fantasy, etc.) This
>would
>make the fiction collection more user-friendly since the kids are used to
>finding books arranged in this way in bookstores. It would also answersome
>of those infernal questions like, "Where are all of the funny books?" or "I
>can't find the fantasy books."
>
>I guess my question to you venerable sages is...What do you think about
>this? I keep thinking about the pros and cons, and mulling it over. I
>realize that it would require a LOT of work initially, but I can't seem to
>shake the idea that it would be a good idea. HELP! Talk me out of it!
>
>
>Deb Evers, Library Media Specialist
>Cushing High School
>Cushing, OK
>devers@cushinghs.k12.ok.us
>
>A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to
>bring up children without surrounding them with books.... Children learn to
>read being in the presence of books. - Horace Mann
>
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