Thank you to everyone who responded to my request about how you have made
your "series section" work successfully on your campus. I find myself needing
to reduce the number of books in my current fiction section by about 15
shelves! to accommodate the installation of an interactive whiteboard. (And yes, I
have weeded to the bone already.) We are slowly working toward a new design in
our library and I felt that rather than move books around every few months
until this renovation comes to full fruition, separating the "popular series"
books from the rest of our fiction section allows me to accomplish my short
term need for room AND cause the least disruption for the rest of the library
collection. When the renovation is complete we may or may not keep the
series books in a separate section.
I decided that I will put a "marker" of some sort on the shelf where the
books would be located to indicate their new location. Since this may be a
TEMPORARY fix I do not think I will change spine labels or cataloging, but will
probably put some kind of sticker on the spine to indicate series. I have a
dynamo label maker and a red S on the side would probably be serve my purpose.
(Should this become a permanent change cataloging will be also be changed.)
Following are the responses to my request: (Names have been omitted to
protect the innocent! :-)
I added a prefix above the call number in the computer record:
SERIES
FIC
OSB
I am in the process of adding this prefix on the books' spines, and making
signs for the bookshelves
I am finishing up my first year in the library. When I started in
September, books in a series were in two different places in the library: easy
fiction series and fiction series. One group had green labels, the other had
yellow labels. Parent volunteers had no trouble shelving them and kids would go
look for them in the right place, BUT THE CATALOG GAVE NO INDICATION WHERE
THEY WERE SHELVED. I am a little Kids would ask me to help them find
books; we’d look at the library catalog, write down the call number, and then we
couldn’t find them on the shelf. I looked like an idiot because I couldn’t
find the books!
I fixed the spine labels on these books and I shelved them in fiction and in
E fiction (E is for Everybody). My students have no trouble finding them
when they use the library catalog. My goal is to get them to find things by
themselves most of the time.
With the old system, kids would just browse the “books in a series”
section, but if an author also had other titles that weren’t part of a series,
the
students never discovered them.
I hope you post a HIT - I am planning on doing the same thing for the same
reason. I don't have extra library shelving, but there is a metal rack they
used to use that has been taking up space. I won't fit ALL the series on it,
but I hope to fit most. It has six shelves on each side and they are only 8
inches deep - perfect for paperbacks. It will be near the fiction, but a bit
apart - and I'm relying on the clerk and I remembering that these go on the
rack... I am planning on using a 'sublocation' of series rack in the catalog.
Good luck - and I look forward to seeing what others do.
We have done this at our library and use 1/2" dot stickers to indicate that
the book is part of a series. We use dark blue to indicate upper elementary
series (Nancy Drew, Redwall, Lemony Snicket etc.) and bright green to
indicate beginner series (Junie B., Magic Tree House, Nate the Great, etc.) It
has
worked very well
Our city libraries use a juvenile system where picture books are ‘J1’ and
chapter books are ‘J2’. They have a sticker at the top of each spine with
either a red ‘J1’ or a blue ‘J2’. I have mirrored the city system in our
school by putting a red ‘1’ or a blue ‘2’ at the top of each spine.
I modified this system when I decided to pull series books and put them in a
different section. When processing series books, instead of J2 Bro, for
example, I would enter it as J2Y Bro, (the ‘Y’ stands for yellow). When
labeling, I use a yellow ‘2’ instead of a blue one. This way it’s
immediately
obvious where to shelve them.
In my ‘Favorite Series’ section I shelve series in alphabetical order
according to the name of the series, i.e, A to Z Mysteries, Boxcar Children, Cam
Jansen Mysteries, Dear America, Fairy Realm, etc.
It’s worked really well.
I separated series out last year and at the end of the year I put them all
back in with the rest of the fiction. I had a hard time with what constitutes
a series. Two or Three books? four or more? How popular did they have to
be to get pulled? Arrgh....I decided it was easier to keep it simple!
I have our popular series in another section and I think it works well.
We use the prefix SER plus we use the yellow label protector, so that we
know just by a quick glance where the books need to be shelved (or that
they are in wrong spot!) The shelves are labeled as well.
In my library we have separated out the Popular Series fiction books. It
will definitely make the shelving easier, and will free up a lot of space. In
order to designate these books, we leave the call number the same, but have a
flourescent green dot that is placed right above the call number. That
alerts everyone that the book is shelved in the Series section. By using the
flourescent green it's very easy to spot one that may get shelved in the wrong
place by mistake....but that almost never happens since it stands out so much.
Go for it, all the way.
I've done it, and the kids in my library love it.
I put every series in it's own small bin box (6" wide,
12" deep, only 1.5" tall at the front, so the frontmost
cover is visible). I made an entire row of these boxes,
all with covers out, which saved shelf space AND made
them more inviting. I liked it so much that I went still
further, and got 6" wide plastic bins for heavier books
(most of the series are pbs), and then labeled those
bins for some authors, as well as series. That made
it possible to ALSO put both pb and hardcover for
popular authors in the same face-out labeled bin.
I started with 20 boxes. I probably now have 120.
Each one saves 6" of shelf space and results in a
book facing out at that spot all the time. Most are
clearly labeled, for the long term (that took time).
The kids love it. Yes, the volunteers are sometimes
unfamiliar with the series and miss. But those misses
are fairly easy to spot, and the kids themselves come
in every day and volunteer to put the series away,
because a) it's easy, and b) they enjoy them this
way, so putting them away is fun. I try to minimize
the misses, if possible, by sorting the cart so that all
of the series books are lumped together (they also
tend to be pbs, which are light).
You won't really need to tell the kids where it is...
there will always be a crowd. :)
And I didn't update the catalog. My rearrangement came
because we moved for a remodel, and time to correct the
catalog on that scale was not extant. Since my initial
positioning of the series row was at fiction, and was
highly visible, no one got confused
I have done this too, but mostly with the Junie B, Magice Tree House, Zack
Files and that level of fiction. I got clear empty video tape box holders,
made a spine label for them, and then put the Series name at the top "Magic Tree
House" and then "See Series Book Shelf" under that and then at the bottom of
the spine I put the call number F Osb...the same as all the other books. I
then put it as a place holder on the regular fiction shelf. At first the kids
brought the video box to me (even though I had told them about it and shown
them) asking me what it was, and look what I found, but now they all pretty
much know what they are. My volunteers are harder. They sometimes still put the
books back on the regular fiction shelf. When I find them there, I just move
them back over to the series shelf. The kids do the same thing...they'll
often tell me and I thank them for putting it back with the others and for being
so observant. I don't mark anything in the catalog, or have anything special
on the spine of the books. I did mark the shelves as the series shelves and
label each area as Magic Tree House, Bailey School Kids, Zack Files, etc. It
did not take kids all but 30 seconds to figure it out! The hardest ones for
my volunteers are the Box car children series because it doesn't say "Boxcar
children" on the covers. All the other books somehow make it clear that
they're part of an ongoing series. I hope this helps. If you get some really
clever ideas, could you please post a hit? I would appreciate seeing if there
is anything better than this.
We have a separate section for series. In my old school, we put them in
baskets which the kids loved. It was easy for them to flip through the
baskets. Here they’re up on shelves. We put “Series” in the 852k field in
the
catalog so the kids know to look there. We don’t put any sticker on them.
Occasionally they end up back on the regular shelves by mistake.
You will definitely need to mark them in some way - even just a small
colored dot helps.
Several years ago I took over a library that had limited space so the
librarian had created special shelving areas for certain types of
books. However, the books were not marked in any way so I never knew to
re-shelve them in that area creating chaos for those used to finding the
books in those areas - it was hard for me to remember just what the special
sections were and if a book fit into that category. I quickly integrated
books back into the collection and used the special shelving areas for
other things and clearly marked them. The dots/stickers were supposed to
let those re-shelving know where to put them, but were also easy to pick
out on the regular shelves if misplaced.
Using the Jim Trelease method of "grouping series books" in the
library, we purchased plastic "wash tubs" (like the ones you can find
at the dollar store which are about 16" x 20" in size). All of the
tubs were white, so we created large colorful labels, laminated them,
and then (using large book tape) taped them to the front of the tubs
indicating the SERIES name (like "Junie B. Jones"). Then we placed
each title from a specific series in the designated tub. We could get
about 20-25 paperbacks in the tub or between 12-15 hardback books in
them.
To make it easier to locate visually, we grouped the tubs in one shelf
area and called them "Bucket Books"---then each tub went on the shelf
alphabetically by the series' name (to make it easier for the younger
non-readers.) So our "Arthur" books came first, then "Berenstain
Bears", then "Clifford the Big Red Dog"...and so on until we got to
the "Zack Files."
Using the Visual Search module in Destiny, I created "Bucket Books" as
a visual icon to add those specific titles for each series that had a
"tub." Then when the student clicked the "Bucket Books" icon, each
series that was available was seen (with a picture of the
character--such as Clifford) on the screen. Students could click the
picture of the book character and could see the list of books which
were available --- this was done using Destiny's TitlePeek program
which showed the book's cover. The students could see the book cover
and then read the words...IN or OUT.
It made it very convenient for those kids who wanted to search the
online catalog before browsing the tubs. They also reallized that
sometimes books came in but weren't shelved immediately, so they could
find out if their favorite was still on my bookcart or not. By the
end of the year, I had first graders who could use the Visual Search
online and then locate the book in the Book Buckets like they were
"graduate students!" *grin*
I don't do this; I feel that it does two things:
1. It creates confusion for kids and shelvers. You will have books shelved
in both sections; kids will have to look in more than one section for what
they want. Plus, if we're teaching kids lifelong library skills, most public
libraries don't do this - unless a series has multiple authors like American
Girl, Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, or Dear America. For those types of series,
I can (possibly) see the usefulness of a special section.
2. What determines what is a "popular series"? How often will it be
updated? What criteria would you use to determine what books deserve the special
designation, and how will you know when to put them back with the "unpopular"
fiction books? And, most importantly, what does it say about the books that
don't make the cut?
I inherited a library that did this, and I've helped a few new librarians
correct this in their library. Keeping the fiction section intact has always
been the popular choice.
What we've done is the same, but instead of taking them to another place
we've put them on top of the shelves so they are more visible. We don't change
anything in their call numbers, and yes, sometimes our volunteers put them
back in the regular shelf, but once you tell them not too, it works perfectly!
I inherited a library last year and a few book series were shelved
separately. The kids really kept those books checked out. Some of the
series that were separated are Junie B. Jones, A-Z mysteries, Dear America,
Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Geronimo Stilton, Hank the Cowdog, etc. All these
books are placed in several shelves at the front of the fiction section with
a label underneath identifying the series. My volunteers love reshelving
these books because it is so easy. When all the books came back this year,
I couldn't believe how many I really had. They are always checked out.
We have our fiction set up like this and it works really well!
We have the series books after the rest of the fiction books, they have the
prefix "SERIES" before our regular fiction call numbers (FIC & author's last
name) and the books also have Series stickers on them. The kids love the
set-up and know just which books are series and belong in the special section,
and they go right to it. They can get very upset if they find a series book
mixed in with the regular fiction! We also have a little cheat sheet posted
around the fiction section with the different genre stickers and what they mean.
Our fiction circulates well, but the series books especially so.
We have blue dot stickers on our popular sets and series and have them
shelved in a separate area. This works well as our students and our 5th
grade "helpers" all have no problem with finding the books. If only I
could do the same in non-fiction, sigh.
In my last school I used "S" above the FIC and author's name.
We have a special section for popular series books. It is located next to
the door and the kids all know about them. I do have an amazing assistant and
she sees to it that the books are shelved in the proper area. When we check
in books we make piles on the corner of the circ desk of these books and
they can go to their proper area. Of course there will be occaisonal books that
make it to the general shelves. Some of the series we do are Junie B.,
Eyewittness by DK, graphics by Capstone, Harry P, American Girl, Wishbone. We
also have 3 shelves for the new books that arrive.
Would this work:
Put a marker where the series books *would* be, if there weren't shelved in
a differert area. For example, in the SNI section of fiction, put a little
sign that says "Lemony Snicket books are shelved with the Series books in the
front of the library." That should remind both your shelvers and your
patrons that these particular books are in the Series area.
We're a small PreK through 8th grade school library with over 10,000 books.
We went to this system two years ago because I only have a part-time aide,
and shelving was so difficult. It has worked REALLLY well to speed up
shelving. Also, I find the books are going out a lot more. To organize the
sections I've done a few things.
I've placed colored dots on the spines for the different sections. Blue for
Easy Readers (Pre-primer types of books), green for Easy Chapter (only
series such as Junie B., Geronimo Stilton, Magic School Bus, etc. comprise
this section), yellow for animal books, and pink for Easy Graphic Novels.
Our extensive collections of I Spy and dinosaur books are displayed in
special revolving racks because they go out more than most. I've also gone
into the OPAC and typed in the section where the books are now housed to
make it easier for teachers to find the books if necessary.
I have the same problem that you do, in that I do not have sufficient
shelving capability to house all my collections - fiction or nonfiction.
I inherited a library last year that had been staffed by a
paraprofessional for many years,and a collection run by Accelerated
Reader. The result is that I have LOTS of series fiction - I'm talking
about 100 Boxcar Children, 75 Nancy Drew, 50 Wishbone, not to mention
Lemony, Harry, Junie, Dear America etal. Their idea was that if one
copy was good, then 3 to 5 copies must be better. Yes I'm weeding, but
to solve the shelving issue, I went and bought cute baskets, tubs,
trunks, suitcases an other interesting containers to hold these many
books. Goosebumps are in a big cauldron, Hank is in a galvanized tin
water trough, Clifford is in a puppy bed basket. You get the picture.
The kids learned with one swoop where everything is, so they are no
problem and all the fiction containers are in the fiction section,
picture books with picture books, etc. A few of my volunteers never got
it, but the majority did. This year I'll get some labeling on the
containers, and do a better job of volunteer orientation. I did not do
any special spine labels or cataloging. As a general rule, I don't like
stickers - they gunk up the spines and look unattractive. I'm spending
most of my summer trying to get the AR stickers OFF the books.
There are some good articles and books about merchandising your library
that I've read and seen. You might look for those, and think Barnes &
Noble when you are creating displays and making books accessible to the
kids.
This week I just moved all my beginning chapter books for the same
reason, space, and I am going to get silver star stickers for both the
volunteers and the kids' identification ease. Other books in easy reader
and on the fiction shelf have round, colored stickers so I have to have
something dramatically different or there will be confusion. I have
segregated mine on a cart and will do a de-briefing(!) about them to
both volunteers and the 1st and 2nd graders next fall. I think it will
be successful, I hope so!
Rachel Hinds
Librarian
Carleston Elementary
Pearland, Tx
_mcquita2@aol.com_ (mailto:mcquita2@aol.com)
"If you're here on Earth and you're not living on the edge, you're taking up
too much room."
- Farrah Gray
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