Notice anything about these shelves?
Yep, that's right. All these books are FINALLY fully genrefied.
Oh, my goodness, what a ride it has been. It has taken MUCH longer than my first library to genrefy. Much longer---next week marks the end of my 3rd year, so really about 2.5 of those were tied up with this project.
But there was a method to my madness (and more than a few setbacks which were totally out of my control, but I digress.)
I started my genrefying process as a brand-new-to-high-school librarian. This gave me the opportunity to lay hands on each and every book in my fiction section. I was able to get to know my collection in a very real, tangible way. I weeded as I went. I noticed what circulates and what doesn't. I can finally answer the questions that begin, "Hey, do we have ..." with some modicum of clarity.
Everything:
- is labeled
- has a new spine label reflecting genre (ex. Fic Mys Obr)
- has been changed in the computer
- has had series order numbered if it is in a series
- has been moved to its genre location
Thank goodness for my senior student aides without whom moving roughly 13,000 books in a work week would have been impossible.
I settled on these main Genres: Realistic Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Adventure, and Classic. I didn't break them up further into sub-genre such as paranormal, etc. because I'm all about keeping it simple. If you've further separated your collection and it works for you, that is GREAT. I know myself, though, and I do better with simple.
Already my kids have been able to shelve the returning books at a much faster pace and with more accuracy-- plus, if they aren't in the right place they stick out like a sore thumb and don't sit hidden for months or years with us unable to find it for a patron unless we just stumble across it with pure dumb luck.
I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the results and how very glad I am to finally have this massive task crossed off my to-do list. Once I get the new signage up, I will really feel "done" with this task and can move on to my other priorities for my library.
