Elementary Genere Shelving

[Carrie McDougle]

After reading a post by Librarian Tiff, I have been intrigued by the idea of mixing up how things are organized at my own library. I was wondering how this might look in an elementary school? Thoughts? Ideas?

[Katie Ball]

I am 100% totally new to library land, but in just a few weeks' time of being a librarian, I realized that our library is poorly organized! Students were coming in ALL THE TIME asking for graphic novels. "Great!" I thought. Except that grahpic novels were shelved by author in their own sections. There were graphic novels in the easy books, in the fiction section, in non-fiction, in biography... everywhere. So, I pulled all the books & moved them to their own area. I am considering also making a separate section for major chapter book series (Junie B., Ricky Ricotta, Magic TreeHouse, etc.) because students are always asking for them but seem to have a hard time figuring out where they are (they are currently in ABC order by author under "Fiction").

[Julie Hembree]

HI Katie,

  I walked in your shoes 6 years ago! The new person on the block and things organized really well for the person before me, but not really my style. The good news is that as the "new kid on the block" you can get away with making changes right away!

I have my graphics all on separate shelves with easy access in the fiction section. The kids all know where to go.  I also have taken all of the easy chapter book series books out of the regular fiction section. Like you mentioned, the Junie B, MTH, A-Z mysteries, Cam Jansen, etc and have them in separate baskets. I have a counter where they are all displayed in their baskets and the kids can easily browse to find what they want.

Julie

@Mrs_Hembree

[Katie Ball]

I am seriously considering separating our series books in the coming weeks, especially after I did a quick walk-through and realized HOW MANY series books we have! But, since I am technically only hired for the school year, should I make such a "drastic" change or just keep things the way they are? I also like the idea of organizing by genre - that might help kids read books they might not normally pick up. So, I'm torn. Series or genre? I have no idea how to make new bar codes (I'm sure I could figure that out), but I think it would be best if I just sorted them and then let the next librarian decide if he/she wants to make new barcodes (or even change the way I have organized the books). Though, that might make it difficult to remember where the books go if the barcode just says "FIC". I just know that right now, students are having a difficult time finding the books they want (even if I tell them the author's last name, they can't seem to find the books... which is another problem), and I need to make the library as efficient as possible. Any suggestions are welcome!!

[Julie Hembree]

Hi Katie,

  I don't have any new call numbers or barcodes. All I added was an EZ sticker to the spines of the series books. Here is a post with pictures showing what mine look like. http://bellbulldogreaders.edublogs.org/2011/11/28/look-in-the-baskets/

I'm not sure I would make drastic changes like an entire shift to genre shelving, but having easy series books in baskets is something I have seen in many different libraries. I personally don't think that change would be too big of a deal.  My kids know where these books are and love to flip through them and find a title they want. It also helps as they finish or tire of one series, to move to the next one, since they are all located together.

Julie

[Katie Ball]

Great idea - only pull the most major series books, because those will just be easy to recognize while shelving. I think I'll work on this and post some pictures later. My students are already having more success finding what they want based on the way I've organized Easy books & Graphic Novels... I think this change will help even more. Thanks for the advice!

[Rebecca Rosas]

Hi Katie,

I have all of our graphic novels on a separate shelf.  I also have all of the favorite (major) series on spinners.  This works out really well especially for a series like Dear America where there are several different authors.  This helps students when they come looking for them and it helps me when it's time to re-shelve. 

 - Becky

[Julie Hembree]

Carrie,

  I re-organized by elementary library 4 years and have never looked back! Time insensive? Yes, at first. Messing at first? Yes, at first, but I had kids helping me at recesses. They liked figuring out which genre books should be in. Librarian Tiff color-coded her library, and I have put stickers from Demco on all my books. Here is a link to a post I recently did on my library blog:http://bellbulldogreaders.edublogs.org/2011/11/17/its-a-genre-based...  It has photos of some shelves. They aren't pretty because we are in a temporary space while our new school is being built. I'd love to make some signs like Tiff did.

  Also in Destiny, I changed the call number to add the genre. For example, F ROW  FANTASY for the Harry Potter books. Then when the kids search on OPAC they know which shelf to go to. I also put FANTASY as a sublocation on the record. Hope that helps!

Julie Hemree

@Mrs_Hembree

[Candace Taylor-Weber]

How long did a reorganization process to genre shelving take? Do the books stay on the shelves and gain genre stickers for a while, before the shelves are physically reorganized? Does that section of the library have to close at all for this process to happen?

[Julie Hembree]

Candace,

   I think it can take as long or short as you want. I tend to jump in the water and start treading water really fast, but it's not the best system! It's probably best to start with one genre and clear some space for them. Others have a tape color system, which is clean looking and cheaper. I used stickers  I had to buy. I didn't close anything, but again, I can live with some craziness more than most people.

  It takes awhile to catch up on call number changes, but I didn't let that stop me. I also don't have a huge library. I had parent helpers and my library assistant work on this periodically.

 Julie

[Carrie McDougle]

Thank you Julie for all this great info! How did you decide on the genres to use? I have been trying to narrow down a list, but I can't seem to make a decision :)