As a patron, I love genrified books.

I tend to read the same type of book over and over again, and it’s easy to just go to that and to find a nice book I’ll like.

But. Yeah. That’s not always going to make for the best library experience. A few years ago I started deliberately moving my way through my public library’s shelves. On each visit, I go to the next section of shelving, and my rule is to pull one book off each shelf.

It’s forced me out of my usual stuff, and I’ve found some authors I didn’t know and some books I’ve really enjoyed that I probably would not otherwise have read. Of course, I’ve also found a few stinkers, and haven’t read everything I’ve brought home. But overall, it’s been really positive to be exposed to new books

(Small note: if you are looking for an easy way to get new book suggestions, each Tuesday we drop a five minute episode of Book Bites! A Guest Host shares a book they have enjoyed, and I’ve found a bunch of books I didn’t know about from these quickie episodes.)

And of course, from a cataloging and shelving perspective separating out books by genre can be pretty tricky. Some libraries do it, and I find it useful and user-friendly; but others don’t and that’s a good choice for them and for their patrons.

So there isn’t a right answer for you and for your library. But it’s worth taking a few minutes to make a conscious choice – not to just shelve books one way Because We’ve Always Done It That Way. (Sigh. The worst reason for doing anything!)

Check out this article excerpt from a school library person who has chosen not to genrify. You can read the whole thing here.

Why I chose not to genrify the fiction section

by Sereena Hamm

Organizing fiction sections by genre in school libraries has, in many ways, moved beyond a trend into the mainstream. And it can make so much sense. Students ask “Where are your mystery books?” and in a fiction section organized by genre, it’s a snap to answer that question. Nonfiction is organized by subject, and genre is the close equivalent for fiction, so it can be a very intuitive system. Creating independent library users matters, and many school librarians find that genrifying is a perfect strategy for doing just that.

So, if genrifying the library is so great, why am I writing about why I decided not to do it?!? After a few years of exploring and running tests on genrification systems to see what might work for us, I ultimately decided that genrification wasn’t best for our library (at least, not right now). I’m sharing a bit of that experience with all of you because you might find, with genrification or another trend, that even though something in our field is becoming common and accepted, it still isn’t right for your program, even if you tried to make it work.

Here’s why I chose not to genrify fiction for the forseeable future.

(Read through the rest of this article here!)