If I Can Do It, So Can You!! Genrefying the LaGarde Way

It's confession time. For years, I regarded the genrefication camp of librarians as sweet, but a bit silly. Why would I make my library so different from other libraries my students might use? 

When my 6th graders arrived for orientation, I'd point to the walls of bookshelves. "If you're looking for horror, it's in there!," I'd say. "Romance? It's in there. Mystery. In there." I worked hard at keeping my genre resource lists updated and directed students to those. But as wonderful as those lists were, I knew students were discouraged. Looking at the postage stamp sized cover of a book on the computer, then trying to find it in the almost 400 feet of shelving? Easy for us, but not so easy for them.

Most of the wall shelving where our fiction is located is visible here. (This was what our library looked like on my first day! BORING!!)

I kept stalling, wondering how I could possibly pull all the fiction books off the shelves, relabel every one, and somehow organize in a way students and staff would understand? Just thinking about the cataloging involved gave me hives!

Then, a miracle occurred. I read Jennifer LaGarde's blog post about genrefying. (I know I'd read it before, but this time, I really read it!) Jennifer took the time to detail every step of genrefying a school library. From deciding what genres you'll use to specific Destiny cataloging instructions, Jennifer is there to virtually hold your hand through the process. 

A few of our fiction genres. Ignore the tipping over books, please. This was our first week of school!

Yes, it did take a while. I have a flexible schedule, so I usually have some free periods during the week. I'd grab my bucket of colored labels and a stool and label until the bell rang. I skipped over anything I couldn't immediately sort into a genre. My part-time aide didn't think she could help, until she had the genius idea of labeling any series she could find (in our middle school library that was probably 20% of the books.)

Calculating the shelf space was the hardest part for me. We starting moving fantasy, our biggest section, only to find we hadn't allotted enough space. Once we recalculated and got the first section moved, it went fast. I think we spent a total of 15 hours (2 people.) We only cleared the very first section of shelves and placed all the historical fiction there. That gave us breathing room on the rest of the shelves, so we just cleared shelves as we went. I'd empty the first new shelf, usually putting the books I was removing on the top or onto a library cart. I'd say for the next section it was a little confusing for anyone other than me, but after that, it got much easier. 

(If you have the time and space to move each genre to tables, it's probably easier, but our library was being used for make-up testing, so all of our tables were in use!)

I also did some weeding as I labeled. I'm a pretty ruthless weeder, but I was still surprised at how many books were still on the shelves that had passed their useful/desirable date. 

Historical fiction (before the end of school)

We managed to get the books moved earlier than we thought. Our art students were still working on our incredible signage, so we hung several small signs denoting what each color label meant. 

The students' reactions made all that dusty work worth it! Some of the comments I overheard:

• I thought I read all the World War Two fiction, but I just found ten more books!
• I am going to read my way through this [realistic fiction] section!
• There are so many fantasy series I haven't read!

Overheard comments are one way to judge, but check out our circulation numbers in this graph. And to make it more impressive, we have about 150 fewer students this year than last! 

Another plus to the project was the immediate feedback we saw. We knew we needed to add to our horror section, but seeing it empty out by the second week of school really pushed me to order more books. 

We also created several color-coded genre bookmarks and did a few genre displays, but students seemed to grasp the idea without any issues. We were the ones who had to relearn where things were!

One thing I added to Jennifer's stellar instructions was the color as part of the sub-location category. If a student looks up a book, I think this makes it so easy to find!

So, if all of the above didn't make it clear, I am now a genrefication proselytizer! Yes, my students will have to navigate a different system when they go to high school. But if the genre project helped them become more avid readers, I'm hopeful that they'll continue to seek out books they will love!