Should all fiction books be shelved together or should
libraries group books according to genres?
I personally can see both sides of the issue and notice the pros and
cons. However, for this post I’ll take
the side of keeping all the fiction in one group without separating certain
genres. Here are some pros that I have
found while doing reading on this issue.
1.
If
you have books separated into genres, combining all fiction books together
saves shelf space if you need more room. (Lyttle & Walsh, 2015)
2.
Some authors believe that having African American
Fiction shelved as a group of its own is a form of rasism. (Jenisin, 2010)
3.
Benefit of general fiction section without dividing
into genres is the ability to browse all available books by a single author in
one place even if they write across genres. (Hana, 2015)
4.
Readers maybe attracted to another title (genre)
which they would not normally seek out. (Montana State Library, 2018)
5.
It can be difficult to determine what genre a
book is from. (Montana State Library, 2018)
I agree with all of the above statements. I personally like having all of the books in
one general group divided by authors last names. I do think that it might be better if there
were labels on the books to tell what genre the books are. I know that this may be just as difficult as
separating out the different genres due to some books ability to be more than
one genre.
References:
Hana (2018). The great debate: When it comes to fiction, would
you rather… Retrieved from https://denverlibrary.org/blog/hana/great-debate-when-it-comes-fiction-would-you-rather
Jenisin, N.K. (2010). Don’t put my book in the African
American section. Retrieved from http://nkjemisin.com/2010/05/dont-put-my-book-in-the-african-american-section/
Lyttle, M.A. & Walsh, S.D. (2015). Separate or keep
together? Public Libraries Online. Retrieved from http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2015/05/separate-or-keep-together/
Montana State Library (2018). Organizing your collection. Retrieved from http://libraries.msl.mt.gov/consulting/online_publications/newlibrarydirectorshandbook/technicalservices/organizing
Mary,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the references...I particularly agree with no. 3, authors frequently write across different genres, and, if you have a favorite author, you'll be traveling all over the library for his/ her books. Also, though, no. 5 is closely related: it may be difficult to classify a work with one overall genre, when multiple themes and appeal elements are present. I do highly value spine labels...not as a classification system, but, more as a hint of the over arching genre present. I recently had a senior ask me for some good westerns. I could easily walk the stacks and pull a variety of westerns. Selecting books for our senior outreach program takes me about 2 hours...spine labels save me a lot of time.
thanks.
I'll echo what Lisa said-you provided some great references. I definitely erred on the side of not segregating fiction genres, but was having a difficult time articulating why, other than the notion has always just made me uncomfortable. Spine labels have been useful in the past, and that seems to be a good in-between space, where it's not physically segregating the books, but it still gives an easy visual indicator.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about shelf room. I work at a small library and room to shelve materials is a constant challenge.
ReplyDeleteMy library just separated our Mysteries into a section of their own separate from the rest of the fiction. So many of our patrons dislike the separation because it makes it harder for them to find authors that they love. I like that you make the point that separating fiction may eliminate the chance that someone may find a book that is in a different genre that they may not have found if it were separated. I know my patrons can't even find the mystery section (even though it is clearly labeled on the shelves and each book has a mystery sticker), if they were in all one section they might enjoy browsing the collection more.
ReplyDeleteExcellent, well articulated and argued post. You bring up many great points that strengthen your response. A little on the short side, but well backed with resources.
ReplyDelete