- Some school librarians are getting away from the traditional Dewey Decimal System for organizing books and shelving them by genre, which may boost circulation and make it easier for students to find what they want.
- District Adminstration reports that in 2014, media specialists in Baltimore County Public Schools began to get away from the numbering system long used by librarians. They developed an action plan to guide the move to the new system.
- Right after they began using genres to organize books, district officials reported that circulation of fiction titles jumped 40% and non-fiction works by 400%.
A new Genrefication Advisory Board, comprised of some 20 national and international librarians and media specialists, met for the first time last month to establish guidelines for organizing book collections by genre. The group, which includes officials from the successful Baltimore County schools, is sponsored by the big education book publisher and technology company Follett, which says it wants to help schools with the move.
Kristen Mattson, a educational consultant and high school media specialist, has developed tips for schools considering the move to such a system as they plan and implement it, noting that care should be given to developing categories and labeling books. A blog from media specialists in Naperville, Ill., also spells out how to organize books by genre in an elementary school.
A survey and research conducted at St. Cloud University in Minnesota indicated that students can more easily select books independently when they are organized by genre — which can only encourage more reading.