Special Topics: Genrification

Rearranging the Library: Dewey or Don't We?

Let me start the Dewey discussion by talking about my love for bookstores.  I truly miss them.  We don't have any nearby because of all the closures, so I can't stop to browse anymore.  I mean, I love an eBook and the library, but I LOVE book stores.  I love the way they smell, the hustle of shoppers, and the feel of a brand new book.  I know my blood pressure lowers when I walk in and browse the shelves.  I love bookstores for all those reasons, but I love them the most for how they are organized.  I like that when I walk in I see the bestsellers right up front.  I like that there are tables full of books pulled by themes.  I like that I can go to the fiction and find a science fiction book quickly because it has its own section.  What do I not like about libraries?  I have to know exactly what I want before I go there.  With bookstores, I can have an idea and browse until I find something wonderful.

When I started as a school librarian this year, I never thought about changing the setup of my libraries.  I was worried about appearance, ease of access, and a good collection.  I wanted to make the library student-friendly and a place teens want to go.  I bought new furniture, moved the circulation desk, painted, put in new carpet, changed the technology, and added flat screen TVs.  I was making it a place for teens to hang out and relax, but books still weren't being checked out.  I would make suggestions and help students find books, but they weren't browsing the shelves like I wanted them to.  I was at a loss for what I should do next.  Cue the Indiana Library Federation Conference.

I attended the 2013 ILF Conference and was inspired by the presentation made by teacher-librarians Sherry Gick, Kathy Burnette, and Megan Scott.  This "League of Librarians" discussed how to genre-fy the library in a step-by-step process.  They had data to prove the usefulness of the time-consuming change.  Sherry Gick shared that her circulation doubled in the first year, and 84% of  Megan's students liked the change on her end-of-the-year survey (Burnette).  I felt like this might be the solution to my problem.  I wanted to increase my circulation and meet the needs of the students.  Why not change my library to be more like a bookstore?

At first I was worried about time and manpower, but I figured out a plan and decided to start the process.  I knew that splitting the library up into genres would be better for my students.  It would help especially with my teen readers' advisory.  Most students come into the library with an idea of what they want. "Where can I find a book like Divergent?" or "I want a scary book."  With the current setup, I have to show them a variety of books from around the library.  I sometimes encourage them to use the online catalog, but that takes a little more time for them to search.  If the books were split into the genres already, they would be able to find more books based on what they are looking for.  Time wasn't mentioned in the ILF presentation, but many of my students come in during passing period and have a very limited amount of time to find books.  I can't do a personalized readers' advisory for each student during that short time, so I usually talk to one or two students and get them quickly checked out.  The other students hopefully find something to suit their needs.  With a genre-fied library, my students will be able to find a book much more quickly.  All around, I think my new setup will help the students and me.

I'm working on labeling the books right now and the next step will be to split them up into sections.  It's funny because my students have started asking about the labels and what they mean.  I'm even able to tell them, "Look for the pink labels if you want romance books."  They are already loving it, and I'm not close to finished!  I plan on including nonfiction in the new genre setup, but I will leave some of the nonfiction in its current location.  The spine labels will also stay the same: fiction will have F and the author's last name, and nonfiction will be labeled with the Dewey numbers.  Ultimately, I want what is best for my patrons.  If the new setup doesn't work, I will change it back, but I don't think the current setup is helping me circulate more books.  All I want to do is capture that feeling I used to have when walking into a bookstore.  If changing my library will help my students feel the same passion I do for books, I'm one step closer to my goal.

Works Cited

Burnette, Kathy, Sherry Gick and Megan Scott. "Genre-fying the Library One Shelf at a Time." Google Presentation. Indiana Library Federation Conference, Indianapolis, IN. 23 Oct. 2013.