Original Post: The October, 2005 issue of Library Media Connection included an
article written by Middle School LMS Elizabeth P. Dumas. The article, "Give 'Em
What They Want: Reorganizing Your Fiction Collection by Genre," outlined steps to
"merchandise" the fiction collection by rearranging and shelving fiction in like
groups (Mystery, Historical fiction, Romance, Fantasy, etc.) .I guess my question
to you venerable sages is...What do you think about this?
What a "Pandora's Box" I opened with that post! I got so many good responses to
this question that I couldn't possibly post a traditional HIT (I didn't actually
count the responses, but there were at least 75-100)! I guess I'll try to summarize
and digest the responses that I got. Please forgive me if I wrongly represent or
omit your comments. Thanks to all of you for your input! Please understand that I
choose not to respond to any new posts on this thread. I've already spent WAY too
much time collecting and compiling the comments that were sent to me. (My principal
is starting to time my computer use ;-} )! I'd like to add my own comments, but
I'll post those separately, to keep this long post shorter. Also, I'd like to add
a few posts at the end from librarians (both PRO and CON) who have worked in a
library with the fiction collection divided into different genres.
Some of you wanted to know more specifics about the article from LM Connections (I
would REALLY encourage you to read the article! It's very compelling). The author
followed these steps. 1) Create material types in the automation system for each
genre. 2) I.D. the genre for each book and attach a purchased label. 3) Change
the material type from fiction to the appropriate genre material type. 4) Add a
subject heading for the selected genre, if not already listed. 5) Add a third line
to the call number indicating genre.
Of the many responses that I received, a list of the arguments (not in any order)
FOR reorganizing fiction in genres follows:
*It would cause a boost in circulation
*Most of the patrons would like it that way
*It would make the library more user friendly to non-readers (your avid readers
would find and read the books they want even if you stacked them in a locked closet)
* It would increase the ability to track and evaluate circulation and collection
needs of different types of genres
* It would aid quick book selection for those students who can't get out of class
and have to check out books in the 10 minutes between classes and before the busses
run.
*It would allow the students to find books on their own and cut down on the need
for librarians to stop what they're doing to locate books for those who don't
understand OPAC (even tho' you've drilled them a number of time on it's use)
*Library Skills are still taught. OPAC is still used. Books are still shelved in
alphabetical order by author. Students still learn to locate materials, just like
in a library that puts it's books in "proper" order. The fiction collection is just
separated into workable units (each a "proper" fiction collection of it's own.
*OPAC use would be even more important. Students might need to use it to determine
which in genre collection a book is shelved.
*It would be easier to track an author's work on OPAC than a genre.
*Some students might be intimidated by OPAC (or unable to learn that technology)
and would rather leave the library without a book instead of trying to learn how to
locate a book.
Of the volumes of responses that I received, a list of the arguments (not in any
order) AGAINST reorganizing fiction in genres follows:
*Many books might seem to be multiple-genre or non-genre, and would be difficult to
label
*Authors whose works span several genres would have their work divided and shelved
in different places.
*Genre assignment would be arbitrary and not especially definite. Two librarians
might assign the same book to two or three different genres. If the fiction
collection were shelved in the more traditional (alphabetical by author) way, the
book has only ONE place to be properly shelved
*It's always been done this way (I'm not making this one up)!!
*Students using genre divided fiction would not be able to successfully locate
books in another library that "properly" shelves it's books
*Why do we always have to do it the way the kids like it? (I'm also not making this
one up)!!
*It would limit students from discovering and exploring other genres if they got
stuck in one genre section.
*It would be an enormous amount of time and work, initially, to get the genre
collections set up in the MARC records and physically labeled correctly
*It would be difficult to maintain
*Where do you stop while creating genres? Would you have mystery/romance or
futuristic/western? The genre possibilities would be endless.
*Shelving would be a nightmare
*Aren't we forgetting that if we teach the students library skills (using OPAC,
alphabetical order, etc) they will be able to locate the books that they want?
Now, two representative comments from librarians who have used this system:
**I walked into a library organized by genre, and within two weeks, I integrated
everything.
The first problem was that, even though the books were labeled, no corresponding
work had been done in the catalog, so it was impossible to know which genre the
previous librarian had chosen for a book.
The second problem was that she did a pathetic job choosing genres. For example,
she put "Animal Farm" in fantasy. She mislabeled roughly 10% of the fiction.
Another example is that she put two books in a series in different genres--one sf,
one fantasy. So previously, they were in separate sections.
I integrated them as a matter of survival, and slowly started relabeling the
inaccurate books, as well as adding decent cataloging to all of the fiction
records. In fact, the fiction was such a mess that I recataloged every book in
fiction. My thoughts are that if you spend your time on creating as accurate a
catalog as possible, then when someone comes up and asks you, "Where are the funny
books?" or says they can't find the fantasy books, you take the opportunity to show
them how to use the catalog so that they can look up books in the "humor" or
"fantasy" categories. Then you're giving them a useful life skill which they can
export to other libraries instead of spoon-feeding them.
A fiction collection isn't user-friendly if you can't find a particular book
because someone thought it was fantasy when it was really science fiction. A
fiction collection isn't user-friendly when it is difficult to maintain, which I
found a genre-segregated collection to be. I think it is appropriate to use genre
labels, but I never regretted my decision to integrate the fiction.
** I did this in my jr. high library because when I got here the circulation was
almost non-existent due to three prior very grouchy librarians. I had to do
something to make looking for a book painless and easy. It didn't take as long as
you might think, but it is well worth the effort. It speeds the checkout process
and stops some of the hanging out at the shelves. Everyone is very happy with the
reorganization!
Several good suggestions for alternatives to reorganization were sent to me and I'd
like to share them with those of you who are still reading at this point in this
VERY long post!
*Use decorative spine labels, stickers, dots, etc. to make the different genres
easily identified on the shelf in traditional order.
*Highlight different genres with rotating book displays.
*Create flyers for each genre with a selection of the most prominent authors and/or
titles "advertised".
*Make genre bookmarks with some of the more highly circulated books in each group
spotlighted.
*Pull a representative set of books from each genre to be displayed in ten or so
clearly marked plastic baskets for a week or so.
Thanks again to all of you who contributed to this fascinating discussion!
--Deb
Deb Evers, Library Media Specialist
Cushing High School
Cushing, OK
devers@cushinghs.k12.ok.us
A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring
up children without surrounding them with books.... Children learn to read being in
the presence of books. - Horace Mann
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