Update 4/22/2015: Check out ITEM’s information about the Bookstore Model.

Do you use the Dewey Decimal Classification at your school? Can your kids figure out what “142.780973” means? Would they know where to find the “Sports” books? Using this logic, many schools are wondering if they and their students might be better served using a book-store model, or genres, when it comes to their fiction collection…. but where to begin?

There are many resources on the web but most applicable for CMLE members might be the slides from a presentation at the 2014 ITEM conference by Mary Brimacomb called Genrify Your Fiction Books. In it she talks about getting volunteers, working in Destiny software, and signage. The topic of genrefying even came up at the 2014 ITEM unconference. You can find that discussion here. Looking beyond our region, there is this wonderful blog post about “Genrefying” a High School Library. Another great resource is a series of blog posts by, 2014 Mover and Shaker, Tiffany Whitehead thoroughly discusses the subject. Her 5 part series is an excellent breakdown of the issues involved:

• Ditching Dewey: Making the Move
• Ditching Dewey: Choosing Genre Categories
• Ditching Dewey: Labeling the Books
• Ditching Dewey: Signage
• Ditching Dewey: Catalog Changes

Got a second? Help us learn more about genrefication in the CMLE region by answering our Quick Question Poll.

Finally, check out the slides from Tiffany Whitehead’s co-presentation at AASL:

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/mvnbsv8, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0