We are a thoughtful, though split group on this one. Twelve people weighed
in on my question regarding cataloging folktales in an elementary school
library. Thanks to all.
Author (6)
Ours are by author. njackson@lbusd.k12.ca.us
<mailto:njackson@lbusd.k12.ca.us>
I find searching for fairy tales very difficult. Sometimes they are
under the title, illustrator, or compiler. I think if you added
geographic area to the mix it would really be hard to find all your
copies of a particular tale.
dbalsam@pen.k12.va.us <mailto:dbalsam@pen.k12.va.us>
It should be by author last name, that way it will confirm to the public
library collection and to established practice--but of course you can
always do what you thinks works best for your school and kids
Annamarie Lavieri
Blakely School Librarian
Bainbridge Is. WA
I say author's last name. It is consistent with how the rest of
nonfiction is catalogued. Also, some stories may have originated in
French Canada, for example, but then retold by the Creoles in Lousiana.
What region would it then be cataloged under? lrobe.ri.wfb@wfbschools.com
IMHO, we have the authority and responsibility to use cataloging in such a
way that it will provide the best access to information for our particular
patrons. I have made choices like this many times for my own library
collections. One caveat, though. I only advocate this kind of thing if you
have a stand-alone catalog, and are not sharing records with other libraries
in your district, because this kind of thing really screws up shared
cataloging. Assuming that you don't, I would choose to sort them by region,
if that is how you and your patrons tend to look for them. So, the call
number might be something like 398.2 INDIA, or however you determine what
regional notation makes the best sense. lsmith@ohsd.net
<mailto:lsmith@ohsd.net>
What an interesting question.
I have the same situation with several shelves of folktales that are
organized by author. Outside of the Kellogg books, the kids never seem
to be able to find what they want. They seem to be asking for tales by
title and frequently don't have time to stand in line for a few seconds
use of the OPAC (that's a separate issue!) Anyway, I am always
interested in changes I can do to make the library more "user friendly."
zswenson@grandecom.net
Region (5)
Do folk tales really have an author? I mean, they are so old that probably
there is no author for all of them. Then again, my forte is adult
literature.
I say sort by region . . . flyer13@aol.com <mailto:flyer13@aol.com>
Sometimes by using our cataloging reference books we can figure out more
differentiated numbers which may include regions - & sometimes not! We go
as far as we can with the numbers then go to author's last name.
lhutchison@mail.sweeny.isd.esc4.net
I used to put them all in 398.2 and subscript in all caps the name of the
country (WORLD for assorted ones) and then file by author because that way
my teachers wanting French tales found them all together except for the
odd one in World collections. I did the same thing with holidays and
with careers and carried out my 920s so that all the mathematicians were
together, all the poets etc. hlj002@ns1.wmdc.edu
<mailto:hlj002@ns1.wmdc.edu>
Since i had four shelves of folktakes, decided touse a non-standard
cataloging for folktakes 398.2+county code (no 9 in between)ie US folktales
398.273 Egyptian 398.262 French 398.244 http://www.halsted.org/br.htm
<http://www.halsted.org/br.htm>
Tale Type (1)
Anyhow, I was wondering if this would be too complicated, but why not
organize them by tale type? That way if someone is looking for a
trickster tale or a Jack story or whatever they would all be in one
place. It would also make it easier to find examples from various
cultures of similar types of stories. I liked Margaret Read MacDonald's
motif and tale type index and it could be a starting point for
organization. Laura Simeon [thisbe@kjsl.com]
Author (6)
Ours are by author. njackson@lbusd.k12.ca.us
<mailto:njackson@lbusd.k12.ca.us>
I find searching for fairy tales very difficult. Sometimes they are
under the title, illustrator, or compiler. I think if you added
geographic area to the mix it would really be hard to find all your
copies of a particular tale.
dbalsam@pen.k12.va.us <mailto:dbalsam@pen.k12.va.us>
It should be by author last name, that way it will confirm to the public
library collection and to established practice--but of course you can
always do what you thinks works best for your school and kids
Annamarie Lavieri Blakely School Librarian Bainbridge Is. WA
I say author's last name. It is consistent with how the rest of
nonfiction is catalogued. Also, some stories may have originated in
French Canada, for example, but then retold by the Creoles in Lousiana.
What region would it then be cataloged under? lrobe.ri.wfb@wfbschools.com
IMHO, we have the authority and responsibility to use cataloging in such a
way that it will provide the best access to information for our particular
patrons. I have made choices like this many times for my own library
collections. One caveat, though. I only advocate this kind of thing if you
have a stand-alone catalog, and are not sharing records with other libraries
in your district, because this kind of thing really screws up shared
cataloging. Assuming that you don't, I would choose to sort them by region,
if that is how you and your patrons tend to look for them. So, the call
number might be something like 398.2 INDIA, or however you determine what
regional notation makes the best sense. lsmith@ohsd.net
<mailto:lsmith@ohsd.net>
What an interesting question.
I have the same situation with several shelves of folktales that are
organized by author. Outside of the Kellogg books, the kids never seem
to be able to find what they want. They seem to be asking for tales by
title and frequently don't have time to stand in line for a few seconds
use of the OPAC (that's a separate issue!) Anyway, I am always
interested in changes I can do to make the library more "user friendly."
zswenson@grandecom.net
And so, after all this I'll take the advice of regional groupings. I am a
lumnper at heart, encouraging quick browsing in broad continental
categories.
Craig Seasholes
Happy Medium School Library
620 20th Ave S Seattle, WA 98144
email: library@happymedium.org
http://www.happymedium.org/Library/libraryhomepage.htm
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