Adding Genres to School Libraries
March 2, 2017
My library is no longer a tribute to Dewey-Decimal symmetry. It is a not-quite bookstore model/Dewey hybrid that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever … unless you happen to be an actual patron. That’s because I have re-imagined the question of “where should this go” by looking at the picture from a student’s point of view. I know from experience that my readers who read about sports don’t particularly care whether a book is fiction or nonfiction — many of them probably aren’t sure they remember what those words even mean. They just want a book about football, or baseball, or hockey. So I can steer those readers to their very own place in the stacks, and they suddenly feel at home. I have inter-filed books on animals, mythology, supernatural, and war for the same reason. General nonfiction, otherwise known as “the stuff no on ever reads unless they have a research assignment,” is still very much Dewey, with stickers and dividers to help lead the way. To my more traditional teachers and parent volunteers, it’s a bit confusing, but to my students, it makes perfect sense.
One Response to “Adding Genres to School Libraries”
March 20th, 2017 at 9:27 am
Kind of like Amazon –if you like this book, try… –and it is right there in plain sight! I like it! 🙂 We need to do a lot of thinking about the “sacred cows” in our work, I think. Innovate or become obsolete!