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Hi, First, I would like to state that the H.S. Library which I have worked in for 13 years now, was arranged like this starting either 30 years ago (when they renovated) or 45 years ago (when they built this school library) with 4 or 5 Separate Fiction Sections (if you count Story Collections as the 5th) and it has continued this way . The SECTIONS are: GENERAL FICTION HISTORICAL FICTION MYSTERY FICTION SCIENCE FICTION This was set up and arranged years before I arrived. This was due to the fact that our English Department has monthly reading assignments where they focus on one Genre and require each student to read one book from the chosen genre each month. I have a school with 1300 students and there are 14 teachers of English. And they have always each had 4 or 5 classes of 20 to 30 students. So, at some point each month, each teacher signs up for all their periods (it used to be one day when we were in an 8 period day, now it is over two days due to being on an A/B 4 period a day Block Schedule). Then they tell the students they must get a HISTORICAL FICTION NOVEL... or a MYSTERY or a SCIENCE FICTION or a BIOGRAPHY, etc. Now, many of us have always had a separate BIOGRAPHY SECTION and a separate PAPERBACK SECTION. And many of our school libraries have a special RECOMMENDED SECTION. Why? Because that is what works best and how they have been requested by our users and are often needed. Or with paperbacks, the shelving space is easier to manage with paperbacks being together. It saves us and them time. It is more efficient overall. And it is easier than having to walk all those 1300 students individually in scanning a General Fiction Section and suggesting books individually to them. Although, with some students, we always will still do this due to their finicky interests and tastes and the fact that some students want and need that personal attention. While, I myself had never had GENRE SECTIONS in any of my previous 3 K-12 School Districts that I have worked in (in 3 separate states, Iowa, SD and CT), and while I never would have SET IT UP THIS WAY had I been to one to originally set up the Fiction Section. I will admit it drove me batty my first year here to deal with 4 fiction sections and I toyed with whether or not I would combine them all into ONE FICTION SECTION. Yet, I knew that I needed to walk through at least one school year to see how the school and teachers used the Library. Also, I was not going to change call numbers on over 7,000 Fiction books just to put it all in one General Fiction Section, plus shifting and interfiling all those books again. And being only one Professional Librarian Media Specialist for an entire school district and having 3 assistants to help students, it is a lot easier on the assistants to have some sections by Genre. While, I, as the Librarian with training and decades of reading in Young Adult and Children's Literature, know what many books are by title and genre, my Library Assistants aren't necessarily knowledgeable in knowing easily what to recommend if I am busy (or at a meeting or doing AV or whatever). The labeled sections help. We also qualify, for teachers and students, when classes come down, for their book selection time, by suggesting they also look in the General Fiction Section. We point out some books that may fall into a Genre may also have been shelved in that area. In addition, I remind them about the PAPERBACK and RECOMMENDED SHELVES as possible additional locations for books they might want to read. We have also used some of those GENRE STICKERS on newer books or on the RECOMMENDED BOOKS so that students can find them in those sections. It certainly is geared to our PATRONS' (and teachers') NEEDS. I realized that a single teacher coming down with 125 to 150 students over one or two days just looking for Mysteries or Science Fiction could exhaust even the best Librarian's recommendations. And then having this multiplied by 14 teachers every month, it meant more than half of our Mystery Section (our smalled area) which is only about 300 books, could be easily cleared right out. Luckily, the English Teachers do coordinate so they are not all doing the same genre every month. While this can pose interesting situations, it is good that they want to use the Library and require reading. We do put PRE-FIXES on our Fiction Call Numbers for each section. And yes, sometimes it is a dilemma to decide, when cataloging if a book goes in Mystery or Science Fiction or General. That is a judgement call. But, that is why we are the Librarians, we can decide to put it where we believe it belongs for our library and our patrons. Just like you might debate about where do I put "A CHILD CALLED IT" (do you put it in Dewey Decimal number for Child Abuse or do you put it in Biography or both?). I don't know if I would really advocate for CHANGING the arrangement of a Library. I can just say that I have lived with Libraries with both arrangements and can see the pros and cons. Wherever you are, you need to look at your patrons and your library usage and have it arranged the way you see it being utilized the most. Good Luck, Joy Parker Fitzgerald, Librarian Media Specialist, Rockville High School Library, Vernon, CT 06066 --- joy.fitzgerald@vernonct.org