It seems like there are definite opinions for and against this practice. For myself, I really like going to the Historical Fiction section to see what's new. I also really like knowing if a book is part of a series. During my middle school observation, the librarian showed me her "bread and butter" section of the library....the series section. She told me how it had a life of its own quickly taking over the whole back part of the library. Students would quickly tell her when a new book was about to come out in their favorite series. She also shared that she had 2 students that 'worked' the series section maintaining shelves and moving books when the series outgrew its space. Her circulation more than doubled after she 'genrefied' her fiction section. The students really responded to the change and are eager to visit the library to check out a book. Isn't that one of our goals? To share the love of reading with our students?
Check out the following links to articles and blogs:
Goldblatt, N. (2015). ONE EASY DECISION: GENRE-CLASSIFIED
FICTION. Library Media Connection, 33(5), 20.
Buchter, H. (2013). Dewey vs Genre Throwdown. Knowledge
Quest, 42(2-), 48-55.
Hembree, J. (2013). Ready! Set! Soar! Rearranging Your
Fiction Collection by Genre. Knowledge Quest, 42(2-),
62-65.
Jameson, J. (2013). A Genre Conversation Begins. Knowledge
Quest, 42(2-), 10-13.
Blogs
Mrs. Readerpants The
Library Genre-fication Project
AASL blog
Dewey vs. Genre Shelving…the Conversation Continues Here
Good points, Wendy. This is ABSOLUTELY one of my bigger conundrums. I think younger students are used to genrefied libraries (my sixth graders this year kept asking, “Where are the scary books?”). While we do have stickers that indicate the genre of a book, it is not quite as easy to browse.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think that genrefying can become overly complicated, and difficult to catalog and shelve. It’s definitely something I’d consider- even if it’s just a “series section,” or a genrefied “new arrivals” section to begin with. Certainly a topic I will mull over time and time again- thanks for the resources and input, Wendy!
This is such an interesting topic - thank you for providing all the articles and research!! I personally found Nancy Goldblatt's article a very worthwhile read - she basically provided step by step instructions on how to tackle this colossal project. I do think this would be such a great idea in the Fiction section, but have been hesitant to even begin to look into it - as it seems so overwhelming/complicated! Your information has been so helpful - I love how the "Mrs. Readerpants" blog showed her circulation stats two years later! WOW!! 7,000+ more books circulated - that is amazing!
ReplyDeleteI am more enthusiastic about the possibilities of this - but think I would definitely need to consult a more seasoned Librarian if I attempt something like this in my first year. The complex decisions which are required - which genres to utilize, and how to decide which genre to place books which fall under more than one. Another benefit of this would be that each and every Fiction title will be looked at, as mentioned in Shannon Miller's blog. Just thinking about 'cleaning up' all the records is definitely a plus in my book!
Thanks again!
There was a discussion on LM_NET this past spring about genrefication. It was interesting to follow the discussion and see what people thought. I never thought it would be as big of a discussion as it was.
ReplyDeleteThere was a discussion on LM_NET this past spring about genrefication. It was interesting to follow the discussion and see what people thought. I never thought it would be as big of a discussion as it was.
ReplyDeleteI totally see gentrifying my library. As mentioned, the fiction series section is a great place to start this. I am already trying to get my series reading students to try other series when what they are looking for is already checked out.
ReplyDeleteIf you think about going to a Barnes and Noble, you can go right to your interest.
I have a small library so I don't think it would be too hard. This will be one of my projects next summer.
So what happens to a student who moves from school to school and always has to learn a new system? How do they know where to look for their favorite books if every library has a system created by the individual librarian?
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking a lot about the idea of genrefying lately. Dewey's decimal system makes good sense for non-fiction, obviously, but I'm kind of torn about organizing by genre. On the one hand, alpha by author is easy to shelve (and find) for the library staff. But students don't often know what they want to read, let alone who the author is, so a genre based system makes sense for students who are browsing. Kind of following the "series based" displays that work in a lot of libraries.
ReplyDeleteOne librarian I know has the books labeled with stickers to identify the genre, but books are still shelved alpha by author. I'm leaning more toward having displays with the top 10 or something like that for the most popular genres, but keeping the rest of the library organized alpha by author. Most bookstores are alpha by author within very large genre sections, which are determined by popularity. For example, there is no "horror" section specifically at most book stores - those books are found within fiction and lit. Same with westerns. Mysteries, Sci-fi, and romance are popular (and sell well) so book stores devote shelves to those genres.