Steps to Genrefy Your Book Collection
- Genrefication: Introducing and Explaining the Exponential TrendThis scholarly article details the phenomenon of genrefication in secondary school libraries. Outhouse (2017) does an excellent job of explaining to readers how genrefication has existed since the 1890s and why it has become more popular in the 2000s. A benefit of this resource is that it is scholarly and users know that the information can be trusted and is reliable. A weakness of this resource is that it was written in 2017, so it should not be considered current. School has drastically changed both with COVID-19 and with Gen-Z reaching high schools. Therefore, let this resource be a guide and overview on how genrefication has adapted since the 1890s, but supplement it with current resources to gain a more holistic view.
- Follett Debuts Genrefication Service: Genre Solutions helps K-12 libraries transition from Dewey to genre classification
Maughan (2019) writes in this magazine article about the transition that Follett has made to better support librarians in their endeavor to genrefy their book collections. Maughan outlines why Follett decided to make the switch to supporting genrefication and how many librarians have feared this change. This resource does an excellent job focusing on the challenges that librarians face, such as the fear that removing the Dewey Decimal System removes an important facet of their career and makes their job more obsolete. The magazine article explains that with more volunteers, librarians fear job security, and this may be a cause of wanting to keep Dewey over genrefying libraries. Readers wanting to learn more about why librarians hesitate to genrefy their book collections should take a look at this magazine article. - In Defense of Library GenreficationThis webpage provides a picture of the case for and the case against genrefying book collections. Researchers interested in learning more about the historical context of the Dewey Decimal System and how to organize books should check out this source. A unique feature of this webpage is that it provides a plethora of resources regarding genrefication of book collections that scholars can go to in order to further their research. For an excellent overview of the defense and prosecution of genrefying book collections, check out this webpage!
- School Library Journal: The Fine Arts of Genrefying Collections
Emily Mroczek-Bayci outlines the pros and cons of genrefying collections in this School Library Journal article. Specifically, she dives deeply into how books fall into multiple genres, and it can be difficult to determine which genre the book should be categorized as. While this article does an excellent job of providing a detailed overview of the difficulties of genrefying a book collection, it does not provide answers as to why genrefying book collections may benefit or harm students. Rather, the article emphasizes how librarians and authors classify books differently from one another. - “Why On Earth Would We Not Genrefy the Books?”: A Study of Reader-Interest Classification In School LibrariesMoeller & Becnel (2019) explore in this journal article the difficulties of genrefying book collections in secondary schools. Specifically, they interview seven school librarians and their experience with genrefication. Users looking to explore how diversity intersects with genrefication should read this article, as the librarians share how it was difficult to decide whether or not to include specific diversity sections, or to embed them into the given genres, such as realistic fiction and fantasy. This article also goes through the reasons behind genrefying a book collection and how circulation numbers can improve upon genrefying as students feel as though they have more ownership within the library. Users looking for a secondary source, backed by a literature review and qualitative interviews with librarians, should look at this resource.
- Follett Solutions: Genrefication Best Practices
Follett Solutions provides a comprehensive guide on how to genrefy a book collection. Researchers can explore how to best prepare to genrefy their collection, how to add genres to their digital catalogs and databases, and popular titles that are already genrefied to save them time throughout the process. While this guide will be extremely beneficial for those wanting critical advice on how to genrefy their book collections, it may be overwhelming to others just getting started, as it is over 40 pages long. - 5 Steps to Genrefication - Ideas & Inspiration from Demco
Demco shares five important steps to genrefy your book collection. These steps are: Know why you want to genrefy, research a variety of approaches, know your audience and categorize accordingly, choose labels and shelving, and be choosy about which books you keep, and watch your patrons fall in love with reading. Clearly, Demco is highly supportive of genrefying book collections. While these steps are useful, they do not offer a detailed analysis of what each step entails. Users should use this resource as a way to get started in the genrefication process, but will need more information before diving into making their own changes at their library. - Genrefication 101: A School Librarian's Quick Guide on How to Genrefy the Library
This book is a short guide on how school librarians can genrefy their book collection. Reviews on Goodreads suggest that this book is an excellent starting point on genrefication, and can get new librarians well acquainted with the topic at hand. To receive a general overview on why and how books should be genrefied in a school library, check out this resource! This book will be especially beneficial for those school librarians who are in the beginning of their careers.
First-Hand Experiences of Genrefying School Book Collections
- The genrefied library: How one elementary librarian made the transition
Posted by OverDrive, an application that allows readers to download books and also read various blog posts, this website details a first-hand account from an elementary librarian and her experience genrefying her book collection. She mentions that students developed their own “dream library” and included fiction sorted by genres. She also details advice on how to genrefy, such as planning ahead and having an end goal in mind. For readers looking to understand a first-hand, elementary school librarian’s experience with genrefication, they should utilize this interview. Readers can also look at images of a genrefied book collection through this link. - Genrefy your library: improve readers' advisory and data-driven decision makingSweeney (2013) details how to genrefy a book collection and their experience. A significant benefit of reading this article is that Sweeney does not shy away from the mistakes that they made throughout the genrefication process. For instance, they share that librarians should not throw out their book lists, because they may need to refer back to it in the future. They also share how genrefying has changed their library. For instance, now Sweeney can analyze which genres are the most frequently circulated at school. Furthermore, students say that they can now more easily locate books because the library is organized by genre. This resource serves as an excellent first-hand experience of genrefying book collections, and readers looking to learn from other librarians’ mistakes should take a peak at this article.
- Genrefying the Library: How I did it and reintroduced students to the 'new' library
This first-hand account acknowledges how after a librarian finishes genrefying their book collection, they must adapt their electronic resources so that students can more easily access books on the library’s website. Essentially, the website needs to mirror the physical book collection in the library. This is an important step in the genrefication process, and one of the only articles on this LibGuide that mentions this step. Readers can also use this website to see pictures of what a new genrefied library looks like. - AASL Knowledge Quest: Genrefying the High School LibraryKarin Greenberg provides a detailed narrative of her experience genrefying her high school library’s book collection. She emphasizes key points in the process, such as sorting, weeding, reshelving, and signing. She also provides multiple pictures so that researchers can visualize how her library has changed throughout the genrefication process. Her account does not detail the impact of genrefication, and researchers may be left wondering if Greenberg’s efforts were successful in elevating book circulation and engagement with her students.
- Tag Archives: collection development
This website details a first-hand account of specific steps librarians should take when genrefying their book collections. For instance, they mention accounting for shelf space when genrefying so that librarians do not run out of room when changing the spaces in their libraries. Researchers looking to follow a specific step-by-step guide should read this post because it is efficient (less than a page) and details important pieces of the genrefication process. Readers can also look at images of a genrefied book collection through this link. - The Switch to Genrefication: Reorganizing the school library supports adolescent readersThis brief journal article describes Torres' (2021) experience with genrefying book collections at both middle and high schools. Torres shares how students were far more likely to take out books after the library was genrefied and that genrefication was worth the effort. While this article gives an informative first-hand experience of genrefying library collections, it is quite brief and does not go into significant detail on how to genrefy and the effects of genrefication in the community.
Videos of Genrefying School Book Collections
- Your Genrefication Questions Answered
Your Personal Librarian, aka Sara, is a high school librarian who shares her library goals, advice, and progress on her YouTube account. In this video, Sara shares specific genrefication questions that users have commented on her profile and she answers them. She recently adapted her high school library to be sorted by genres. Users who have questions such as: how does diversity influence gnerefication, how are circulation rates affected by genreficiation, and what labels to choose when genrefying should check out this video. For users who prefer to read information, rather than listen to information on genrefication, this resource will not be the most beneficial to them. - Genrefy Your School Library Collection with Confidence
The Library Corporation has posted a 56-minute conference video on YouTube detailing the steps to genrefying a school library. The Library Corporation hosts three panelists, all of whom are librarians who have initiated and gone through the genrefication process. For users who prefer to watch videos to learn how to genrefy, this video is the right one for them as they will receive a detailed overview of how the genrefication process works and its benefits. However, the video is quite long and may lose the attention of other users. This video is useful as it was published in 2023, making it current in school library genrefication affairs. - Genrefying a High School Library
Christy Minton, a school librarian, details her experience with genrefying a school library. She goes over best practices, her plan, how to catalog, and what the process looked like on the day that she changed the school library. She also goes over how the teens reacted when she made these changes, which was an overall positive result as they felt more excited to explore the fiction section of the library. While this video provides a brief overview of genrefying and cataloging, it was published over ten years ago, which makes it a little bit outdated. For users looking for more current information, they may prefer to watch a different video or read a more current article.
Items Recommended to Purchase to Genrefy
- Genrefying Your School Library Collection
Follet Solutions provides items available for purchase regarding the genrefication of book collections. For instance, researchers can purchase genre labels from Follet. Furthermore, this webpage allows users to follow links to examples of elementary, middle school, and high school genres that they may deem useful when developing their own genrefied book collection. While Follet Solutions does not provide information on the benefits and drawbacks of genrefying book collections, they do offer materials that researchers can readily use when creating their own library collections. - Follett Solutions: Do-It-Yourself Genre Kits
Follett Solutions offers users access to genre kits. These kits contain special items, such as fantasy genre kits, realistic fiction kits, graphic novel kits, humor, and animal kits, to name a few. Each kit contains stickers that librarians can post on the spines of books when genrefying their book collection. Most kits come with 450 labels and also a shelf marker. While these stickers are beneficial to genrefying a book collection, users should know that they must make an account through Follett in order to make purchases. Users should also note that each genre kit is $10.00, which can add up depending on how big the user’s budget is. - Genre Classification Labels - Labels for books, games and other media
Demco offers users access to genre stickers if they wish to utilize stickers when they genrefy their library. Users have a plethora of options, from modern designs to retro designs. Users can shop by most popular designs, such as fantasy, biography, and graphic novel. Each package comes with 500 stickers. It is unfortunate that Demco does not offer shelf markers in their packages, as this item is critical when genrefying a library. Users should note that each genre package is $11.49, which can add up depending on how big the user’s budget is.