Ready! Set! Soar! Rearranging Your Fiction Collection by Genre

American Association of School Librarians. Available from: American Library Association. 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Tel: 1-800-545-2433; Web site: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest/knowledgequest.cfm

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Fiction; Library Materials; Library Services; Library Development; Literary Genres; Classification; Usability; Organizational Change; Change Strategies; Library Research; School Libraries; Elementary Schools; Access to Information

1094-9046

It was early March 2008, and the author was only a few months from finishing her third year as an elementary school librarian. During the morning recess the school library was humming with the sounds of students. Suddenly, three students rushed in asking the author to help them find a silent-reading book for class. Looking at the clock and seeing the bell was about to ring any second, she told them she could, but they would need to look up some choices on the computer and then they would be late to class. They could find lots of choices at the next recess. The students told her never mind, they would find what they needed in their classroom. That simple statement got the author thinking. What if the fiction books were shelved by genre? Bookstores and classroom libraries are arranged by genre. Why should it be harder for students to find a book in a library than it is in a bookstore? Why not take this successful model and apply it to a school library? Wouldn't arranging by genre make it easier for students to find the books they like and then read more? In this article, the author describes the research and action she took to implement a new system arrangement of fiction books in the school library. She has no current plans to change the arrangement of the whole nonfiction section. However, she would like to increase readership of nonfiction books suitable for our youngest, newest readers.

ERIC

3

2014

EJ1040146