Organizing the fiction collection by genre:
• Matches students’ desire to check out books based on interest
• Encourages students to read a variety of genres
• Helps the media staff learn the collection
• Identifies strengths and weaknesses in the collection
The steps below can be used to work towards organizing the fiction collection by genre. These steps were written to allow the process to be completed over a period of approximately one school year.
- Identify the genres that match those students most often ask for or those that exist within your collection.
- Recommended genres include:
- Adventure Fiction
- Award-Winning Fiction
- Classic Fiction
- Fantasy Fiction
- Graphic Novels
- Historical Fiction
- Horror Fiction
- Humor Fiction
- Mystery Fiction
- Realistic Fiction
- Science Fiction
- Teen Fiction (Middle and High Schools Only)
- Young Adult Fiction (High School Only)
- Order genre spine labels to match your identified genres. Recommended label styles available from Demco include:
- Demco Genre Subject Classification Labels
- Demco Retro Genre Subject Classification Labels
- Demco Silhouette Genre Subject Classification Labels
- View Genre Label Recommendations
- When fiction books are returned:
- Identify the genre of the book based on the summary or your knowledge of the book.
- If the book can be categorized in more than one genre, choose the genre in which the book will experience higher circulation.
- Attach the genre label below the Call Number spine label and ensure a clear label protector is attached to cover the genre label.
- Shelve the book using the current organization, typically by author’s last name.
- Continue this process until the majority of fiction books have a genre label attached.
- Review those books that were not circulated and do not have a genre label attached. Determine if those books need to be kept or weeded. If the book needs to be kept, attach a genre label and label protector.
- Reorganize the fiction collection into genre groupings. Below are a few suggestions:
- Make a list of the genres in alphabetical order.
- Place the first genre from the list on your first set of shelves.
- Consider shelving genres with individual titles in order by author’s last name followed by shelves of book series within that genre.
- Consider arranging your series books with those with the lowest reading level on the bottom shelf increasing to the highest reading level on the top shelf.
- Use signage and/or displays to make the genre groupings clear.
- Consider implementing a reward card or reading passport to encourage students to read a variety of genres.
- Optionally, you can assign a genre sublocation within Follett Destiny.
