Previous by Date | Next by Date | Date Index
Previous by Thread | Next by Thread
| Thread Index
| LM_NET
Archive
| |
I have received many helpful replies from my query about fiction and non-fiction books. I have included a couple in this “hit.” The main consensus is that plays, poems, fairy tales, etc., are really fiction, but are filed in the Dewey Decimal categories by form or because they are a part of the culture of a country or region. I think the two explanations below probably sum up my answers very well. Thanks to you all. Mythology is ancient religion. Fairy and folk tales and legends are not the fictional works of authors, but cultural heritage transmitted orally for generations. Poems and plays are literary works, classified by form. There is a Dewey section for "novels" but they shelved separately for patron convenience. Melvil Dewey intended for every book to have a Dewey number but we librarians pulled out novels (and sometimes short stories and biographies) and used a combination of letters as the call number such as F LOW for a fiction book by Lois Lowry. We could have easily placed it in 813 LOW for a fiction book written by an American author or 843 for a fiction book from Germany but we found it difficult to sometimes locate the national origin of the author. We would generally have only books either written in or translated into English so we just pulled them all out and interfiled by author since it didn't matter where the author was from or what the original language of the novel was. That is why you find folk tales, poems, etc. with a Dewey number...he designed it that way. I also explain that they need to verify with their teachers when they are assigned a non-fiction book. Did the teacher simply want a book shelved in the non-fiction area or do they really want an information book. Most likely, they want an information book so the student has to know the difference. The video that I referred to was Charley Chapters in All You Need to Know About Books. It is a cute 9 minute video from Media Inc., Box 496, Media, PA 19063. Their phone is (800) 523-0118. The video has two parts: the first part is about parts of a book, the second about three types of books: fiction, nonfiction, and picture books. I thought it did a good job of explaining, but maybe is a little pricy at $225. We belong to a consortium who buys videos for many schools, so maybe it wouldn’t be bad in that instance. Thanks everyone for your help. Kathleen Kathleen Williams USD 454 School Librarian Burlingame, KS kwilliams_46@hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-= All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law. To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST, etc.) 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 see: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/ Archives: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.shtml See also EL-Announce for announcements from library media vendors: http://www.mindspring.com/~el-announce/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=