Searching online for resources: utilizing a search engine such as Google is a quick and easy way to locate a plethora of relevant information related to genrefying a school library.
Here are some basic Google operators that will assist you in your search:
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Searching within your University's Library:
Utilizing your university's Discovery Platform is a quick and easy way to begin your search. This can, however, lead to overwhelming numbers of results, many of which may not be relevant to your information needs. Utilize the advanced search feature to assist in locating relevant sources of information.
For example, a search of "genrefying an elementary school library" (without quotations) in UAlbany's Discovery Platform yielded 16 results. That is not an overwhelming number of results, but you may find that some of the resources listed are not exactly what you are looking for. You can filter your searches to in the following ways to narrow your search even further (including but not limited to):
If you know what database or scholarly journal you would like to utilize, then your university's database and journal finder tools would be most helpful.
What School Librarians Have to Say About Genrefication by Greg Arenz
Greg Arenz (2022) with Demco discussed the genrefication of school libraries with experienced librarians who have put this system of organization into practice in their libraries. If you have questions about the reasons to choose genrefication, the planning process, challenges you may encounter, whether or not you should genrefy fiction, nonfiction, or both, the benefits of genrifying the collection, and/or how to go about utilizing labels and signage, you'll want to read this article.
Genrefying the Children's Fiction Collection by Alyssa Sultanik
This article from the Research Journal of the American Association of School Librarians discusses research done to explain the benefits or disadvantages of genrefying the fiction section of elementary libraries. The following is the abstract of the article by Alyssa Sultanik (2020):
Genrefying a library’s fiction collection is a common practice in school libraries. However,
there is little research to explain the benefits or drawbacks of this practice. Using a within-
subjects/time-series action research design, this study was conducted to understand more about
the impact of genrefying the fiction collection in a single library. This study found that
elementary students could locate fiction books faster and to greater satisfaction with a genrefied
collection than in a collection in which fiction was arranged in a FIC label format, which is
typically seen in standard Dewey Decimal classification.
This article is limited to fictional genres of children's books and does not discuss pros and cons of genrefying nonfiction books.
Pick a Genre! The Fine Art of Genrefying Collections by Emily Mroczek-Bayci
This article discusses the difficulty of genrefying, as many books fall into multiple categories. However, many authors actually prefer the organization of collections by genres, . Tips are given on how to overcome the obstacle of multi-genre titles. Additionally, the pros and cons of labeling books (with label stickers) is discussed.
Genrefy Your Library: Improve Readers' Advisory and Data-Driven Decision Making by Stephanie Sweeney
As a high school librarian, Sweeney (2013) was struggling with not being able to make recommendations when students inquired about books in areas in which she had limited knowledge, leading her to start thinking about genrefying her collection. Sweeney discusses perks and benefits of genrefication, like familiarity of your collection, but I chose to include her article because she also discusses things that she did not anticipate happening, such as the number of authors who write in multiple genres and not knowing what to do (she tells you!). Sweeney also discusses unexpected outcomes, like how genrefying helped her in meeting curricular goals and allowed her to perform very specific data-driven collection development, something that could not be done prior to genrefying.