Another one of my big projects this year is to tackle some of the rather ancient books in our non-fiction section. Already, together with our History teachers, we've removed some tomes that are not very accessible or that are out of date. As I've been moving through this area, I've come across some interesting books that don't seem to be in the correct place, although when I've checked with their number, actually they are.
For example, we have a great biography section and yet a selection of shorter biographies on such luminaries as Mandela, Mother Teresa and Gandhi, have been Dewey-Decimalled (yes, I verbed it!) into a completely different area. After checking over my shoulder for any Dewey-Decimal Nazis, I renumbered them...
And so has begun a whole new process - I'm working through a shelf a week and whisking off a book or two as I go to be re-catelogued in another zone. I am also putting up signs pointing to particular sections I think the students might be interested in that are non-subject related, such as coping with stress, study tips, and how to do origami!
I'm not yet ready to go the entire genrification hog, whereby the entire non-fiction area is organised according by genre. I know of some librarians for whom genrification is a swear word, but for me, it seems like a huge task so for now, I'm sticking with only cheating the system a little.
There is some nice reading on the subject (and some fun headings, such as 'Dewey or Don't We'!) - if you're thinking about genrifying your library, this article in the School Library Journal gives you a step-by-step look at how one school library did it. From the Association of Independent School Librarians there's this article that looks at both sides of the debate, while this article from librarian Christy Minton discusses genrifying the fiction section of a library.
Thanks for those links to the other articles - I'm putting together a motivation for revamping our non-fiction section with just these ideas in mind, so these will really help!
ReplyDeletePlease keep us posted as you move forward - thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks Philippa - I enjoyed reading your blog. I identify with your struggles with Dewey and have re-categorised and relabelled books quite happily if I have felt that it would lead to more focused searching. The Dewey Police have never come after me!
ReplyDeleteOur fiction section is genrefied/genrified and I was delighted to find out that it had become trendy! It evolved from our Reading Circles that we introduced in the Upper Junior classes as part of our literature programme. These are timetabled, weekly lessons of one hour, devoted solely to reading books. Each term, a new theme, with its own reading list and task booklet, is introduced. The lessons are facilitated by the respective English teachers and the library teacher. Themes are broad, encompassing a selection of quality books aimed at stimulating meaningful discussion about life’s important issues, and designed to build reading, writing, literacy, research, and oral skills. The Grade Six and Seven themes include War, Journeys (many of the fantasy sagas go here), Intrigue (spies, detectives, thrillers, murder mystery), Cultures, Classics, Historical Fiction, and Out of Africa. The Grade Fives’ topics are broader – Memorable Characters (drama, big issues, strong characters), Great Adventures, Animal Stories, and Humorous Stories.
Each cycle begins with selecting books, usually at the end of the preceding term, so that the books are read by the beginning of the new term. The books for each theme are marked and located separately, and include a large variety of stories of varying levels of difficulty. My initial idea was to integrate them with the other books in the fiction section, but pupils requested that they remain as separate collections and these have become a treasure trove for general browsing. This is certainly a positive spin-off, as the pupils know that the “best” books are housed here.
I have subsequently added Poetry, Myths and Legends, and Biography to these sections. There is also a Young Adult section ( your book is here! ).
We still have a fair number of books left in the general fiction section, but many have been weeded out. Most new books are categorised into the collections and are often purposefully chosen to supplement the books in each collection.
I think you must be the envy of many librarians, Gill, with a dedicated reading hour! I see one of our main tasks as making searching for books and information as accessible as possible, so I love your comment about making changes if it leads to more focused searching, and I'm going to quote this if I'm challenged on my changes...
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