GEN: Library Organization

[Donna Neill <Donnan1250@AOL.COM>]

Greetings!

I have been lurking for months and I have finally gotten up the nerve to pose
a question.  I am a brand new elementary school (K-6) media specialist.  I
have been teaching 6th grade for the past four years.  I have two media
courses under my belt.  I have spent many hours in the media center this
summer in preparation for the coming year.  One of the tips for new media
specialists that I read repeatedly over the last few months was get to know
your collection.  In getting to know the collection I have discovered some
things about the organization of the books that I would like some feedback
on.

I have noticed that we have several copies of certain books and they do not
all have the same call numbers and are not shelved together.  Is this routine
to ease students in finding it or does it need to be fixed?  Also, in some
areas the books grouped together seem odd.  For example, there are books
about horses and then one about another animal and then more books about
horses, but the books are shelved according to call numbers.

I do not want to spend huge quantities of time redoing call numbers and
shuffling the collection, but I do want it to be "right."

Also, what are some opinions on housing parts of the collection separately.
The previous media specialist had separate sections for Newbery, Caldecott,
easy chapter books, first readers, middle grades paperbacks, primary
paperbacks, oldies but goodies.  This seems a bit much to me, but I again I
have no real experience.
I would appreciate feedback, and please keep in mind I am new. :-)  TIA

Donna Neill
Media Specialist, Apollo Elementary, Titusville, FL
donnan1250@aol.com

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=
All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law.
 To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST), send email to:
   listserv@listserv.syr.edu          In the message write EITHER:
    1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST
 4) SET LM_NET MAIL  * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv
 For LM_NET Help & Archives see:  http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=