Genrefying the school library requires careful consideration before the task is undertaken. Schools need to consider whether it will be beneficial for their students and staff and if it is decided that it will be then which collections will be genrefied? The junior or senior? The fiction or non-fiction? Or all? As libraries around Australian would have entertained with this question, however the literature is still divided on what is the best system to use.
In his article Genres generate renewed enthusiasm for libraries, Ray Bendici talks about more and more libraries moving towards genrefication so that the library begun to ‘emulate bookstores, allowing users to find titles easily by browsing by general subject rather than using card catalogues and numeric codes’ (2018). For the junior collection, especially the non-fiction junior collection, this approach can work well as students are most likely familiar with the layout of a bookstore and do not have to understand the complexities of the DDC. This allows for more accessibility and autonomy from a young age. Phyllis Robinson Snipes addresses this issue in her article Concrete to Abstract: Growing Past Genre into Dewey where she explains that children are not developmentally ready to understand hierarchical classification and ‘as children mature, the ability to understand and appreciate how information is organised increases’ (2015, p. 26). Snipes also notes that perhaps having a library that grows with its clientele is the solution. She explains a scenario where a student can move from a genre based collection into a senior dewey decimal organised collection- so that the student ‘has moved from concrete thinking (genre) regarding organization of data to much more abstract understandings (Dewey)…’ (2015, p. 26) as they grow. This approach seems like a practical application of genrefication in the library, it is used to assist the younger library users to become accustomed with basic shelf organization however as they move through into the senior school students are required to navigate the more complex and thorough Dewey system. With adequate signage and teaching from the teacher librarian, this should allow students to find what they require while also giving them the skills to transfer their understanding to a university or public library when they finish their schooling. Carol A. Gordon also supports this idea and notes that ‘while user-driven collection management seems appropriate for younger library users, students need to know how to retrieve information from traditional libraries’ (2013, p. E7).
Genrefication of the fiction collection is a different argument and appears more open to individual interpretation compared to non-fiction. Determining the genres to use in the fiction collection is fraught with difficulty and can easily pigeon hole both authors and readers. Stephanie Sweeney advocates for genrefying the fiction collection and comments that it has given her better circulation data as a result (2013, p. 44) however with a strong library management system this shouldn’t be the driving force to genrefy fiction. Likewise, if the cataloguer has used effective SCIS subject headings on its resources, appropriate tags in its OPAC and genre stickers on book spines students should not have a problem with finding books that match their needs.
Bendici, R. (2018) Genres generate renewed enthusiasm for libraries. District Administration, 54(6), 21.
Gordon, C. (2013) Dewey do Dewey don’t: a sign of the times. Knowledge Quest, 42(2), E1-E8.
Snipes, P. (2015) Concrete to Abstract: Growing past genre into dewey. Library Media Connection, 33(4), 26-29.
Sweeney, S. (2013) Genrefy your library: Improve readers’ advisory and data-driven decision making. Young Adult Library Services, 11(4), 41-45