One area I'm focusing on this year is the Adult Fiction section with some incomplete series and a need for new books. As I update the Adult Fiction series, I believe it beneficial to classify our fiction section differently. That is, in a more specific way -- but not too specific.
We just went online with our library, and so we can enter more specifically into the computer. But when people browse in our library room, I'd like to make it a bit easier to find their taste of fiction.
What are your thoughts/experience/opinions on genre-related subdivisions in relation to adult fiction?
I wish to keep it a bit simple, but allow for more growth in the future.
My thoughts at this time ..............
So what if I use the following 3 time-related terms for subdivisions on our shelves?
1. Historical -- I'd include Biblical fiction here as well as others. Almost 1/2 of the fiction?
2. Contemporary - We've a number of these books, including Amish, Kingsbury series and more. Almost 1/2 of the fiction?
3. Futuristic -- would this cover books like the Left Behind Series or Sci-Fi type books? A smaller portion of the fiction. Would another term work better?
What am I missing or not thinking of? What works in your church library?
By the way -- if it helps.... our library size involves about 2,400 items.
Replies
So now, instead of the term "futuristic", we use the term, "speculative". Speculative covers any change on the time continuum.
Since we are computerized, I can now go thru and make sure that each book is searchable as to its specific genre or sub-genre. I don't plan to use stickers on books to specify which genre --- I need to try to keep costs low as possible. That's why the mark on the label to specify historical, contemporary, or speculative. Now people can easily ignore the distinction or use the distinction to their advantage.
Thank you.
what about suspense? it would go into all three categories sometimes. Mainly contemporary and futuristic
Thanks, Janice.
The genre stickers can be helpful, but as of now, we're not distinguishing between Western, Romance, and so on. I also like "The Library Store" .
The only distinction made is related to treatment of time: historical, contemporary, and speculative. What I was trying to convey was that genres & sub-genres are overwhelming. So it would be way too much for our little library to go into that.
The books remain in alphabetical order according to author --- how I always planned ---even from the first post.
Hi Amanda ---
You're right. There are many genres and sub-genres that fit into Historical Fiction, for instance. Western, Romance, and more. Since my 1st post on this thread, I've read more about genres - both secular and Christian. Whew! So many genres, sub-genres, crossing over genres, and more. It becomes overwhelming - at least to me. Visionary, Futuristic, Speculative . . . . right now Speculative seems to be the top choice. (Another post or thread . . . )
SO . . . Currently the books remain organized per author's last name (my original plan).
With subcategories mixed thru-- Romance, Western, Suspense & so on..... BUT I hope to make it easy to browse genres online & possibly print the lists for the library room. The only difference church members see onsite is that the spine label is marked with a colored stripe to the left side of the label.
In my weird urge to organize things, it bothers me to see contemporary suspense mixed in with historical romance. But I need to make this simple as I can for future librarians, while creating easy-to-browse fiction section. I notice certain people gravitating to certain genre and so it would be nice for those people to quickly locate their choice reading without having to sift through what they don't care to read.
Special genres, could have a sticker or something to indicate its special genre? Since our library is online (only within this last year), I at least plan to indicate those genres online.
Amanda, I identify with your comment. Thank you.
I think you should arrange by author. Then prepare some reading lists or bookmarks by category. Have these lists available for your readers.
Thank you, Sue.
I do plan to still arrange by author, but only the spine labels will show by one colored mark to the side of its particular genre.
That's a great idea about lists. Maybe copies of the particular genres can be generated off of our online listings. I also like the ideas of bookmarks.
Sue Hardin's suggestions are excellent and offer a good option for our library users to keep a record of what they have read!
My main thought is reading all of your ideas, Linda, is this:
How will you document all of these processing actions, so that you can train new team members as they are added, or in the case of other unforeseen events such as a prolonged illness or a sudden move by the team leader or the like?
Sandra, you make a valid and excellent point. When I started a few years back as librarian, no documentation as to procedure was put together. Thus, this wonderful group of church librarians became incredibly helpful to me.
So now as I figure this all out and as I work to streamline our library, I've been writing down our processes. I hope that if another librarian who is starting out reads this, she/he will see this key point of documenting procedure --- and hopefully document simply.
Thanks, Sandra.
Clarification
I just want to clarify as to how we label our fiction books. Please note that I'm changing the call numbers and am now ready to relabel all fiction books in order to bring consistency. Right now all fiction books have "E" and the author's first 3 letters of the surname whether it's a stand-alone or in a series. Also, the majority of spine labels are faded and need replaced. Thus, I wish to re-think the classification process for fiction.
Current System in the Works
We organize fiction books accordingly by author's surname and then by the book title if stand-alone. If part of a series, the book is placed in its numerical order within the series and the series are alphabetically placed according to its series title.
On the spine label . . .
F and then the first 3 letters of the author's surname.
If it's in a series, then . . .
*F
*first 3 letters of the author's surname
*3 letters (capitalized) from the series title
*the number in which the book comes in the series
We now have the fiction stand-alone books sectioned together and the fiction series sectioned together. In addition to this, I'm thinking about sectioning the fiction in its own Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, or some type of "other" section. I know at least some at our church choose to read fiction books as to time periods as well as by the author.
So one method would be to indicate on its label as if the fiction book is Historical or Contemporary with tinted label protectors or simply pencil in its inside cover/page. Also, I'd make available the "key" to the tinted label protectors.
I could leave the books as they are now -- divided between stand-alone and series while placed according to author. Another idea would be to section the fiction books further according to its historical perspective, which would remain optional if I were to use tinted label protectors.
I appreciate the kindness of responses and the privilege to "think out loud" here with people who understand. Thank you.
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