Hi,
First, I would like to state that the H.S. Library which I have worked
in for 13 years now, was arranged like this starting either 30 years ago (when they
renovated) or 45 years ago (when they built this school library) with 4 or 5
Separate Fiction Sections (if you count Story Collections as the 5th) and it has
continued this way
.
The SECTIONS are:
GENERAL FICTION
HISTORICAL FICTION
MYSTERY FICTION
SCIENCE FICTION
This was set up and arranged years before I arrived. This was due to
the fact that our English Department has monthly reading assignments where they
focus on one Genre and require each student to read one book from the chosen genre
each month. I have a school with 1300 students and there are 14 teachers of
English. And they have always each had 4 or 5 classes of 20 to 30 students. So, at
some point each month, each teacher signs up for all their periods (it used to be
one day when we were in an 8 period day, now it is over two days due to being on an
A/B 4 period a day Block Schedule). Then they tell the students they must get a
HISTORICAL FICTION NOVEL... or a MYSTERY or a SCIENCE FICTION or a BIOGRAPHY, etc.
Now, many of us have always had a separate BIOGRAPHY SECTION and a
separate PAPERBACK SECTION. And many of our school libraries have a special
RECOMMENDED SECTION. Why? Because that is what works best and how they have been
requested by our users and are often needed. Or with paperbacks, the shelving
space is easier to manage with paperbacks being together. It saves us and them
time. It is more efficient overall. And it is easier than having to walk all
those 1300 students individually in scanning a General Fiction Section and
suggesting books individually to them. Although, with some students, we always
will still do this due to their finicky interests and tastes and the fact that some
students want and need that personal attention.
While, I myself had never had GENRE SECTIONS in any of my previous 3 K-12
School Districts that I have worked in (in 3 separate states, Iowa, SD and CT), and
while I never would have SET IT UP THIS WAY had I been to one to originally set up
the Fiction Section. I will admit it drove me batty my first year here to deal
with 4 fiction sections and I toyed with whether or not I would combine them all
into ONE FICTION SECTION. Yet, I knew that I needed to walk through at least one
school year to see how the school and teachers used the Library. Also, I was not
going to change call numbers on over 7,000 Fiction books just to put it all in one
General Fiction Section, plus shifting and interfiling all those books again. And
being only one Professional Librarian Media Specialist for an entire school
district and having 3 assistants to help students, it is a lot easier on the
assistants to have some sections by Genre. While, I, as the Librarian with
training and decades of reading in Young Adult and Children's Literature, know what
many books are by title and genre, my Library Assistants aren't necessarily
knowledgeable in knowing easily what to recommend if I am busy (or at a meeting or
doing AV or whatever). The labeled sections help.
We also qualify, for teachers and students, when classes come down, for
their book selection time, by suggesting they also look in the General Fiction
Section. We point out some books that may fall into a Genre may also have been
shelved in that area. In addition, I remind them about the PAPERBACK and
RECOMMENDED SHELVES as possible additional locations for books they might want to
read.
We have also used some of those GENRE STICKERS on newer books or on the
RECOMMENDED BOOKS so that students can find them in those sections.
It certainly is geared to our PATRONS' (and teachers') NEEDS. I
realized that a single teacher coming down with 125 to 150 students over one or two
days just looking for Mysteries or Science Fiction could exhaust even the best
Librarian's recommendations. And then having this multiplied by 14 teachers every
month, it meant more than half of our Mystery Section (our smalled area) which is
only about 300 books, could be easily cleared right out. Luckily, the English
Teachers do coordinate so they are not all doing the same genre every month. While
this can pose interesting situations, it is good that they want to use the Library
and require reading.
We do put PRE-FIXES on our Fiction Call Numbers for each section. And
yes, sometimes it is a dilemma to decide, when cataloging if a book goes in Mystery
or Science Fiction or General. That is a judgement call. But, that is why we are
the Librarians, we can decide to put it where we believe it belongs for our library
and our patrons. Just like you might debate about where do I put "A CHILD CALLED
IT" (do you put it in Dewey Decimal number for Child Abuse or do you put it in
Biography or both?).
I don't know if I would really advocate for CHANGING the arrangement
of a Library. I can just say that I have lived with Libraries with both
arrangements and can see the pros and cons. Wherever you are, you need to look at
your patrons and your library usage and have it arranged the way you see it being
utilized the most.
Good Luck,
Joy Parker Fitzgerald, Librarian Media Specialist, Rockville
High School Library,
Vernon, CT 06066 --- joy.fitzgerald@vernonct.org
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