[LM_NET] HIT: Series Book shelving (#2)

[Elizabeth Fox <keokuk@CASCO.NET>]

More great responses came in, so I'll share these, too.  Thanks for all the
good advice, Liz

Elizabeth Fox, Technology Instructor
Newport High School, Newport, OR
keokuk@casco.net (pm)
Liz.fox@lincoln.k12.or.us (schooldays only)
http://ta.gd/nhsmedia
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I put a generic label for all of them, such as F  STA, so they'll be shelved
together.
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I'm in elementary, and we have the same problem with Dora and Spongebob.  I
WAS going to put them on a separate shelf...but then I thought no - the
students WANT to find these books - let them practice using the OPAC and
finding the books on the shelf! So I shelve them by author - even though
it is a pain to find the author's name half the time.
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I was seeing the same problem in my library Š not only with Star Wars but
Dear America and American Girl.  I decided to change all the call numbers
because it is far more important that students find what they want than it
is to be meticulous catalogers.  So for Star Wars, I used ³Fic Sta², Dear
America became ³Fic Dea²'
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I've done this for years and it does make other librarians shudder, but I
shelve them together.  One of the most important things we can do as
librarians is make our libraries user friendly and accessible to our
patrons.  I'm an elementary librarian and with very limited time for our
classes, my kids don't have time to look up 4 books, write down the various
call numbers, then see which ones they haven't read.  I have a special
section of shorter book shelves that form sort of an island to the side of
my open space library.  This is where I store the "odd" series like this.  I
keep the very lower level AR books there - kids who can't read can't find 1
brown sticker among 10,000 titles without increasing their stress levels.  I
also keep BIG series - like Junie B. Jones that has over 30 titles.  It
takes up too much shelf space.  When I get a series like this - or one like
you mentioned with various authors, I introduce it to the kids and show them
where it's shelved.  I catalog it just like it's on the regular shelves, but
I do have a little map (I suppose it's my version of a shelf list) for the
other librarian who shares the space and any subs who may wonder.  It may be
unorthodox, but to me, it's all about the kids - what works best for them
and keeps them interested in reading.
------------------------
I shelve series with different authors like Star Wars and Star Trek by the
series title: F STA
They are in one section for students to find. Same with 39 Clues I shelve as
F THI (for thirty)
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I learned this from another librarian in our district, and it really works,
though it may be a little unorthodox.  I put them together and use the first
three letters of the title for the call number . . . so all the books in the
Dear America series are under F DEA, and all the books in the 39 Clues
series are F THI.  Last year, I moved all of our popular series books to one
section.  I labeled all the books (made the label on my P-touch label maker)
with the number in the series (of course, all series don't have numbers, I
suppose--like Dear America).  My circulation has improved dramatically, and
the kids need no help finding them.
----------------------
I shelve series with different authors (American Girl, Dear America, etc.)
in the fiction section under the series rather than the author, so all books
in the series are together.  Dear America is shelved under D, for example.
They are cataloged under the author's name with an entry for the series.

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