TARGET: Alphabetical Bookshelving

[Reeds Elementary School <reeds@INFOAVE.NET>]

Hello Lm-netters,
        I have a specific problem and would like to ask for your response
to the problem. I have been  a media coordinator, media specialist,
librarian, in the same school for 23 years. We have always shelved our
books in  as close to exact order (numerically using the whole number then
by author name for non fiction, or alphabetically using the author's last
name, first name, then by title of the book in fiction and easy). Lately, I
have been told that "most libraries" don't take time to put books in exact
order anymore, that they just put all of one letter together on the shelf
(like all 192 "S" picture books  would be jumbled together. I, personally,
find it so much easier to find books if they are kept in exact order. I
agreed to try it and just let the books be shelved by first letter of the
last name. Kids complained, teachers complained, etc. Still, the powers
that be figure that reading shelves is not important and too time
consuming. I know that this seems like an insignificant problem, but it has
turned into "one of those things". Yes, I know that kid use messes up the
shelves, and we try to get the kids to keep the books straight by giving
them a shelf marker when they go to the shelves so they can put books back
where they were as they browse. No, I am not an old fuddy duddy, but I do
think that people who shelve books should put them back as close to exact
order as possible for the sake of the people who are looking for things. I
also believe that we still must make time for shelf reading every now and
then. BTW, I have a full-time assistant  and a full-time technology
assistant in the computer lab but we can not have student assistants in the
Media Center. We are a K-5 school. What is your response? Should this be a
thing of the past? If there is interest, I will post a hit to the list.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Carolyn Dietz, Media Coordinator

Reeds Elementary School
791 S. NC Hwy 150
Lexington, NC, 27295

email: reeds@infoave.net
Subject: C. Dietz

"You (addressing teachers and media coordinators) are not in this
profession by accident, you were chosen." - Patricia Polacco at a
literature conference in Greensboro, NC on Oct. 1, 1996

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