Comments on: Organizing Books By Subjects, Part I

By: Friday Link Round Up « ellie <3 libraries

Friday Link Round Up « ellie <3 libraries — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:23:10 +0000

[...] Books By Subjects: Part I & Part [...]

By: Orgainizing By Subject « The Geeky Librarian

Orgainizing By Subject « The Geeky Librarian — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:09:30 +0000

[...] By Subject As reported by the Swiss Army Librarian, the Chelmsford Public Library has started a rather ambitious [...]

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:44:03 +0000

@Deb: I agree with Liz - it might be easier to leave the books shelved as they are, and just create bibliographies for the different topics. Our fiction collection does have separate sections for westerns, scf-fi, romance and mysteries, but that might work better for adult paperbacks than in a school library. We do use genre spine stickers with Young Adult fiction - they have to be very noticeable to be effective, but it’s a start, and you could build the bibliographies at the same time.

@Lesbrarian: if you are able to solve this problem, you will be my hero for life.

By: new order « bibliotamus

new order « bibliotamus — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:32:59 +0000

[...] April 30, 2009 · No Comments Even as I become progressively less librarian-ish (for someone still officially a LS rather than IS degree-seeking), I still find reference librarian Brian Herzog’s Swiss Army Librarian to be my most compelling professional blog read. More so than the more technically minded Jessamyn West. He’s my antidote to Society for Librarians Who Say Mofo, so it shouldn’t surprise me that he has me reflecting semi-favorably on the concept of abandoning Dewey in the public library. [...]

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:12:22 +0000

Hi Deb - I’m not a librarian by any means, but I wonder, maybe if you have some down time one day, could you create a list of authors or titles by subject? Maybe make a leaflet / brochure with the most commonly requested subjects and some suggested reading? That way you don’t have to reshelve anything or teach volunteers a new system until you come up with a more permanent solution - you can just give students the handout, or have them sitting in different places.

You can make a basic word processor document, or make it creative and teen-themed with graphics and fonts. I included my (painfully out-of-date) website so that, if you like, you can feel free to email me some raw data and I’d be happy to make a few templates or pdfs for you. Good luck!

By: lesbrarian

lesbrarian — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:07:13 +0000

When I get to be Queen of All Libraries, I’m going to reclassify all the nonfiction into a hybrid of the bookstore model and my own fell plans. Specifically, I’m going to make a great big whopping obvious distinction between narrative and non-narrative nonfiction.

For example: Freakonomics is at 330 Lev, keeping company with “Contemporary Economic Issues” and “Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One.” Now it is true these three books are all vaguely similar, in that they deal with economics, but they were all written and marketed to appeal to different audiences– Freakonomics to catch readers who like quirky social science, the other two to readers (probably students) who need a formal understanding of economics.

Or how about Seabiscuit? It’s in the 790s, with horseracing, which is accurate– but how often do people who enjoy true adventure stories think to go browsing in the horse section?

My point here is that engaging narratives will appeal to a variety of readers, no matter the particular subject matter. It’s a shame they’re interfiled with more informative or instructional titles. Finding a way to make a distinction there will be my first step in the nonfiction classification revolution.

By: Deb Hanson

Deb Hanson — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:38:33 +0000

This is a great start. I’ve been wanting to do this at my school’s middle school library also - but especially with FICTION. The kids are always asking - where are they mystery books, humor books, etc. But I can’t imagine quite how to make it work without putting a subject label on every book (which I despise). Plus I have NO staff - only volunteers to help shelve and straighten… any suggestions?