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MSLA Spotlight School Library

December Spotlight: Genrefying the Saugus High School Library 

12/10/2016

4 Comments

 
Librarian Kate Payne sits at her desk. She is wearing a white shirt with red sleeves.Saugus High School Librarian Kate Payne
Librarian: Kate Payne Saugus High School Library Website 
The decision to genreify the fiction collection was a big one for me.  I knew that the project would involve a significant change to the organization of the library.  I am alone in the library and am the only librarian in my district, so I knew the project would be wholly up to me.  After getting approval from my principal, I decided to do the project over the summer.  I brainstormed with several English teachers was able to brainstorm with several teachers in the English department, who were excited about the project and happy to give their input.  I also talked to some students, who thought the project was a good idea.

I started re-categorizing the fiction call numbers before the end of the year.  This way I would have a starting point when I walked in over the summer.  When I began the project in July, I used tables to organize the fiction books into genres. I used the list of fiction books that I had already generated to pull books from the shelves.  These re-categorized books were the easy ones: books that I knew well and was able to put into genres without having to think too hard.  ​
Once I had these books in piles, I went back and sorted through the stragglers and weeded, which helped me remove a lot of old and outdated fiction.  I used genre stickers rather than creating new call number labels for the books because I wanted students to be able to easily distinguish between the sections.
A stack of books is organized on a table. The sign next to them reads
Books were sorted into piles by genre before the labeling process began.
A stack of books on a shelf with spine stickers indicating that they belong to the dystopian genre.
Dystopian books organized with their new spine labels to indicate genre.
​Next, I had to move the reference section to where the fiction collection had been, and then move the biographies to the reference area. This was particularly challenging on a 90 degree day in July with no air conditioning, but it was worth it. The old fiction collection had been on short shelves that are crowded together and hard to see, so I wanted to move them to a more visible area. Once I was done moving books, I was able to measure the shelves and allocate space for the new fiction sections.  All time considered, the project took three and a half weeks.  ​
A row of bookcases with newly organized fiction books, signs indicating sections, and spine label stickers to denote genre.The end result - a more visible, well-marked, genrefyed fiction section.
 The fiction genres I chose to use are: Realistic, Historical, LGBTQ, Sports, Romance, Dystopian, Fantasy, SciFi, Mystery/Thriller, Horror/Paranormal, and Classic.  I recently added a Magical Realism section because I couldn't reconcile putting books like Bone Gap and Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies into either Realistic or Fantasy, and the English teachers and I are beginning to market Magical Realism to the students.  I decided to use a separate LGBTQ sticker after talking to the gay-straight alliance students. I don't know that this would work at every school, but my students felt it would beneficial to have a separate LGBTQ fiction section, and it has worked well so far.

Even though we are only partway through the school year, I can confidently say that the project has been a success.  Saugus does not give a lot of money to libraries or to schools, and there is not a huge reading culture here.  It often feels like an uphill battle to be the first librarian that students have seen, but I have already had a huge increase in checkouts for fiction.  Some of this is due to the help of my awesome English teacher colleagues (the senior English teachers in particular are focusing on free voluntary reading this year, and we have been working together to promote books and get students more interested in reading for fun), but I also have seen significantly more students coming into the library on their own to check out books for the first time.  Advocating for libraries and reading can be challenging, time consuming, and fraught with emotional challenges, but taking on a project like this makes me feel good to be where I am.  Even in a district with fewer resources and advocates, I can make a difference, even if it is a small one.  

4 Comments
Donna Phillips
12/10/2016 11:54:27 am

This is inspiring! As a solo librarian with a small budget it's really exciting to see the difference we can make for the kids.

Reply
Barbara Gogan
12/12/2016 11:58:52 am

What important work you are doing Kate! As someone who grew up in that part of Massachusetts, it is so sad to see the lack of librarians there.

Reply
Lynda Moylan
12/13/2016 12:06:43 pm

Congratulations on a job well done! Your students and staff are lucky to have you. Thank you for sharing your story, I am inspired!

Reply
Joanne Teliszewski
1/17/2017 08:51:31 am

Fantastic job! We genrefied our fiction two years ago at Canton High School and it has been great. I had an assistant help me though. Way to go!

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    Spotlight Editor:
    Amy McHugh

    Cape Cod Regional
    Technical High School
    amchugh@maschoolibraries.org

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    Amy McHugh

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