So every reader loves receiving books and, of course, gift cards to a book store(especially local) but sometimes that pile of books on our night stand is more than enough. Here are a list of ideas for book lovers that aren't actually books.
Gone Reading: mugs, puzzles, reading lights, posters, etc... mainly geared at the classics
Out of print- tshirsts and other items with covers of classic titles. Cute shirts for a little one on your list too.
Dodoburd list of gifts for Book lovers and avid readers
DFTBA (Don't Forget To Be Awesome) shop
Harry Potter Shop (Warner Bros.)
Percy Jackson on Etsy
Monday, October 26, 2015
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Reorganizing the School Library
So after some thought and research, I decided to reorganize my fiction section into genre's. I know the main argument against this, is that it isn't using Dewey and students wouldn't know how to use other libraries. However, I'm not sure I buy that. The students are still going to either browse the books on the shelf or look up a title in the catalog and then find it on the shelf. This is no different then putting picture books, juvenile books, and young adults all in a different section as most general libraries do.
The process took a little over a year. First I decided on the genre's. I choose to do just 8 different genre's so that my sections were decent sizes. The genre's I use are: Realistic, Sports, Mystery, Horror/Paranormal, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Adventure. I then created my system for marking books. I decided to use an abreviation for each genre, print it on small labels and place them on the existing spine label above the current spine label, So it read FAN FIC RIO. I then spent about a year working my way through the library, labeling books. I started with books I knew well, I labeled as they came through the circulation desk, and then eventually just worked myself around the library shelf by shelf.
This was a great process all by itself because it made me look at each book. Some I weeded but generally I just was able to get to know my collection better. After I had labeled all the books, I waited a little while till it got closer to the end of the year. I then took one shelf at a time and added the genre into each book's record. My thought was that if a student was looking for a book in the catalog I would just tell them ignore the genre until I had actually moved the books. It took about 2 weeks too get all the books changed in the system. I then used Volunteer Spot and signed up parent volunteers for morning and afternoon shifts. We physically moved the 5,000+ book fiction section and reorganized it by genre in 3 days. The overall process, although it was a little drawn out, I felt minimized the disruption to the library and the students.
VERDICT: So now it is 1 month and 1/2 into the school year and I love it. The students are finding books easier. Books that had never been checked out, are being checked out. Students are also discussing the genre's and trying to decide if they agree with the genre I chose. I am tracking my circulation statistics this year so I am hoping to see them rise but unfortunately there are always other factors that effect circulation, so we'll see.
WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY: I would have used the clear color labels to color code the sections instead of adding the additional abbreviation. I feel like this would have been easier and not as messy on the book spine. It also would have allowed me to quickly see if a book was misshelved.
The process took a little over a year. First I decided on the genre's. I choose to do just 8 different genre's so that my sections were decent sizes. The genre's I use are: Realistic, Sports, Mystery, Horror/Paranormal, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Adventure. I then created my system for marking books. I decided to use an abreviation for each genre, print it on small labels and place them on the existing spine label above the current spine label, So it read FAN FIC RIO. I then spent about a year working my way through the library, labeling books. I started with books I knew well, I labeled as they came through the circulation desk, and then eventually just worked myself around the library shelf by shelf.
This was a great process all by itself because it made me look at each book. Some I weeded but generally I just was able to get to know my collection better. After I had labeled all the books, I waited a little while till it got closer to the end of the year. I then took one shelf at a time and added the genre into each book's record. My thought was that if a student was looking for a book in the catalog I would just tell them ignore the genre until I had actually moved the books. It took about 2 weeks too get all the books changed in the system. I then used Volunteer Spot and signed up parent volunteers for morning and afternoon shifts. We physically moved the 5,000+ book fiction section and reorganized it by genre in 3 days. The overall process, although it was a little drawn out, I felt minimized the disruption to the library and the students.
VERDICT: So now it is 1 month and 1/2 into the school year and I love it. The students are finding books easier. Books that had never been checked out, are being checked out. Students are also discussing the genre's and trying to decide if they agree with the genre I chose. I am tracking my circulation statistics this year so I am hoping to see them rise but unfortunately there are always other factors that effect circulation, so we'll see.
WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY: I would have used the clear color labels to color code the sections instead of adding the additional abbreviation. I feel like this would have been easier and not as messy on the book spine. It also would have allowed me to quickly see if a book was misshelved.
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