I have 2 very willing and smart young people that I want to train to be shelvers. I'm looking for training materials on their level. There are some through The Library Store, but I'm not sure it's enough. Never really systematically done this. Find myself correcting after the fact.
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"Order in the Library" is another online game https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/order_in_the_library that gives lots of practice putting books, both fiction and non-fiction, in order. Each level (there are 11) gets progressively more complex. Designed for upper elementary and pre-college students.
Nice, Louise! Hi to you!
Hi Lynda, glad to see you're also using Ning! "Order in the Library" is also a great tool for you and your volunteers to practice with. Even after all the years I've shelved books and more, I still make mistakes -- we all do. Keeps us humble.
Hi Martha,
are you asking about shelving fiction or nonfiction? I'm going to assume nonfiction as that is tougher, to be sure. When I train students, I explain that it's like dollars and cents, and "Left is less (less than); right is more" (greater than) on the shelf.
So a book with the number 220 is like $220.00. 220.05 = $220.05 220.5(invisible zero!) = $220.50 220.555 = $220.55 and 5/10ths of a cent. Numbers enlarge as you move right. Identical numbers are further arranged by the author last name, and first name if needed. By 4th grade, most kids understand dollars and cents. What "tricks" people is the "invisible zero" after the single number after the decimal (they think 220.5 is $220 and 5 cents), or longer numbers after the decimal that look like "big numbers" but aren't: 220.04987654321 is still less than, and to the left of, 220.05 for example.
Take a look at Shelver, an online game created by a school librarian's husband: http://www.mrs-lodges-library.com/play-shelver/
She has used it with 3rd and 4th graders to teach them how to arrange books by Dewey number and also how to arrange Fiction on the shelves.
Thank you- Wish she'd do one on Series. But I just played it- made one error. Sent it to 2 of my current shelvers, and one who isn't yet.
Martha