Lorraine Wyness, Taylorsville HS & Jennifer Peirce, Kearns HS (Granite SD)
What is genrefication?
.... "the process or idea of classifying music, film, literature, or other such mediums into specific genres or categories." It can either be used in addition to, or as an alternative to the traditional Dewey Decimal Classification system. It is often described as : bookstore model, subject-based cataloging, or nontraditional shelving.
Why Ditch Dewey?
- Provides user -friendly & student centered organization. Students and Teachers know what they like to read, not always the titles or authors. Gives a starting point of where to look for materials.
- Encourages browsing by subjects and similar books being grouped together.
- Positive user experiences bring repeat 'customers' and thus life-long readers.
- Can reduce information overload by allowing students to focus on smaller subsections of a large fiction collection. Patrons don't need to hunt for labels or authors.
- Supports increased circulation rates. Use Destiny cataloging tools such as resource lists, sub-locations or specific call numbers to track data of each genres circulation over time.
- More easily identify areas of the collection that may need development or weeding.
- Easier to manage shelving and keep collection orderly. Easily identify books that are misplaced or in the wrong genre.
Possible Disadvantages
- It is a big project to undertake – assigning genres, labelling / cataloging / signage, physically rearranging, leading library users through the changes
- Difficulties in assigning a title to a specific genre
- Potentially books by the same author in different genre sections
- Students reading only within a single genre
- The library’s physical layout may not be conducive to smaller genre collections
- Increased complexity in terms of shelving, may be more challenging to arrange effectively.
- Resistance to change from some library users
Data Collection
Analyze circulation stats & use collection analyses to find gaps or areas that need attention
Process Steps
There is no 'one size fits all' solution. Every library can be a little different in their approach.
- Decide what genres you will use to categorize books
- Label books using a visual genre sticker and/or color coded call number labels.
- Sorting and weeding; You may need to research books that cross genres and decide which ones will be weeded.
- Decide on shelf placement and arrangement. Give yourself room for expansion. Some genres require more space than others, plan out carefully before physically moving the books.
- Arrange the books on the shelves alphabetically within genre. Label the shelves / bays / sections with appropriate signage with as much face-out display as possible.
- Decide how you will catalog books. If using Destiny, create sub-location or change call numbers or a combination of both. You can also create Resource lists that will be accessible to students when searching for books on Destiny & Destiny Quest. You don't need to recreate the actual call numbers for the physical copy, just in the catalog so that you can run accurate circulation reports.
- Create new signage for genres and directions to patrons for color codes.
Cataloging
- Scan book barcodes into a Text file for each genre using barcode scanner, save into Notepad or other .txt software.
- Using the catalog, "update copies" option in Destiny and using a global update, you can change many records quickly.
- Creating Public Resource Lists with genre names makes it easier for patrons to find books in the genres they like.
- Using sub locations in Destiny makes identifying where a book lives on the shelf much quicker.
- With a sub location identified, changing call numbers is fast using a batch update. You can also use a batch update to change call # to a sub location.