Re: Non-fiction Explanation

[Vickie Rabourn <vrabourn@CALINET.COM>]

I do not use the term "non-fiction" to describe books arranged by Dewey.
During orientation, I tell my students that the two basic sections in the
library are "fiction" and "classified."  The fiction books are the novels
and short stories, arranged alphabetically by the authors' or editors' last
names.  The rest are classified by the Dewey Decimal system.  This includes
many books that are not non-fiction such as fairy tales, folktales,
legends, myths, poetry, plays, joke books, etc.  Novels and short stories
could be arranged by Dewey classification numbers too, but like most school
and public libraries, ours has a separate section for novels and short
stories, referred to as the "fiction" section.  Teachers are always
surprised when I tell students that it isn't really true that all books
that aren't novels or short stories are non-fiction, and that the correct
term is "classified."  Everyone has had the term "non-fiction" drilled into
them for so long, it's hard for them to understand that "non-fiction" is a
actually a misnomer when applied to all books arranged by Dewey Decimal
number.




>
***********************************************************
Vickie Rabourn
vrabourn@calinet.com
Los Osos Middle School Librarian
San Luis Coastal Unified School District
San Luis Obispo County, CA

"And he reads to them, as he does every night,
as if watering them, as if turning earth at their feet."
-- James Salter

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