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> 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?

It depends.  How will the student look for the book?  For example, at my
high school library I had books on the Salem witches in both American
history AND the occult--100s and 900s.  Both were used equally, for
different reasons.  The students who were interested in aliens and Bigfoot
got a little bit of history for a change.  I pulled all my career books out
of the sections (careers are supposed to be mixed in with their topical
Dewey numbers--careers in theatre arts shelved with the theatre books) but
my students have to do career reports and it was easier and the students
were exposed to possibilities they hadn't thought about before if they were
told to go to 331.7 and start there.

 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.

You'll find that with animals.  There's a difference in Dewey regarding
animals as pets versus animal husbandry.  One is the care and feeding, the
other is training and breeding.    Go back and look up the numbers in your
Dewey abridged and see if that's the case.
>
> 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."

The "right" way is whatever works for your library media center, to be
honest.  My right way will probably not be your right way.  In the long run,
it's whatever works best for the students.  And that will change over time
as students and their interests and skills change.  I noticed a group two
years ago that were extraordinarily well-trained in library usage, and I've
concluded it was because they had Miss X in 5th grade.  Go figure.
>
> 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
>
What was "right" for my high school was similar to this.  I had reluctant
readers who hated looking at miles of shelves of books.  I pulled all the
horror fiction out, gave it a call number line of HOR/KIN (as an example,
for horror fiction by Stephen King), and shelved it separately.  I did the
same thing for mysteries, and science fiction/fantasy.  My circulation for
fiction, and what I'm now calling sub-genre fiction, quadrupled within
weeks.  The kids that read these sub genres READ, but that's all they want
to read right now.  As they mature, their tastes will too, but the important
thing for them to learn now is that libraries have books that they like.

One note--when I was working in an intermediate (grades 4-5) media center
the paperbacks were separate from the hardbacks.  I relabeled them and
intershelved, and circulation of paperbacks stayed the same while
circulation of hardbacks increased.  They liked Roald Dahl, regardless of
the binding.  I can't see keeping paperbacks separate.

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