GENREFICATIONOne primary school’s experience of shelving their fiction collection by genre

Library Girl’s Article

Genre Blogs• Mrs Readerpants - Genrefication• E-literate Librarian – Navigating the library: Teaching

genre• Mighty Little Librarian – Ditching Dewey: Choosing genre

categories• Bulldog Readers – It’s a genre-based library• National Library – Genres for young adult and young

fiction• Create Readers – Shelving fiction by genre? Let’s give it

a go…• National Library – Arranging library fiction by genre

Our Genres

• Adventure• Animals• Fantasy• Historical Fiction• Horror• Humour• Mystery

• Realistic Fiction• Science Fiction• Sports

Labels

Labels

My Labels

Genre Posters

Genre Posters

Genres Within A-Z Shelving

But What About Wide Reading…?

• “A recent survey showed that the primary factor in choosing a book for 7- to 12-year-olds was a familiar character or series” – What do children’s book consumers want? Publishers’ Weekly Survey 2010

• “While formula fiction may not win awards for great literature, when a child hooks into a favourite series and reads them all, their reading mileage soars” – “Reading at home”, National Library’s Services to Schools website

But What About Wide Reading…?

• Quotes from “classroom strategies teachers use to create readers”, National Library’s Services to Schools website:

• “High achievement came as a result of greater reading mileage”

• “Increased reading volume will compensate for lack of extension in individual texts and readers tastes do gradually develop and broaden” -Dr Warwick Elley

But What About Wide Reading…?

• My view – reading mileage should come first, then wide reading.

• Our focus should be on increasing the amount of books a child reads, then we can work on promoting a wider range of reading options

• Shelving by genre makes it easier for students to increase their reading mileage because they can find books similar to ones they have enjoyed

• Promoting different genres can help broaden students’ reading tastes

Twitter Talk

Student Survey

Partial Genre Shelving

New Horror Section

Books in Each Genre1 Fantasy2 Humour3 Realistic Fiction4 Science Fiction5 Historical Fiction6 Mystery7 Horror8 Animals9 Adventure10 Sports

Adventure Animals Fantasy Historical Fiction

Horror Humour Mystery Realistic Fiction

Science Fiction

Sports

5684

244

90 78

223

86

133

98

24

Number of Books

Most Popular Genres

1 Humour2 Fantasy3 Horror4 Realistic Fiction5 Mystery6 Animals7 Science Fiction8 Historical Fiction9 Adventure10 Sports

Adven-ture

Animals Fantasy Historical Fiction

Horror Humour Mystery Realistic Fiction

Science Fiction

Sports

5

20

59

8

35

99

21 2415

3

Number Issued

Most Popular Genres

1 Horror2 Humour3= Fantasy3= Mystery5 Animals6 Realistic Fiction7 Science Fiction8 Sports9= Adventure9= Historical Fiction

Adven-ture

Animals Fantasy Historical Fiction

Horror Humour Mystery Realistic Fiction

Science Fiction

Sports

8

23 24

8

45 44

24

1815 13

% Issued

MAKING THE FULL SWITCH

Sorted Alphabetically Into Genres

Visual To-Do List (Un-Labelled Books)

Books Shelved by Genre

Ready to Go

What’s Your Genre Quiz

Genre Quiz Sign

To Do List• Signs linking genre to non-fiction e.g. humour to joke

books, and vice versa• Lists of genres for students moving on from Quick Picks

to try, based on what series they are reading e.g. Go Girl can try Realistic Fiction, Zac Power can try Mystery

• Bookmarks for different genres with recommended books on them

• Tellagami explanations of what the genres are and what to look for e.g. war books are in Historical Fiction; looking for a SCARY book, check out Horror

• Competition based on PlayBuzz quizzes

Competition

Why Shelve by Genre?• Makes it easier for students to quickly find books based

on their previous likes.• Helps with book selection as students find smaller

sections not so overwhelming. • Makes it easier for librarians and teachers to help

students find books they like. • Helps students learn about genre. • Encourages teachers to try different genres for their read

alouds. • Provides more data for collection development. • Good tie in for all kinds of book promotions.

Michelle Simms

• www.goodkeenlibrarian.blogspot.co.nz• @MSimmsNZ• http://www.slideshare.net/spaceace40