First off, I would like to point out that not everyone has control or even a say about what is ordered for their library/branch. At the Allen County Public Library (where I am employed part time) the acquisitions department is in charge of all ordering. My branch will sometimes receive 15 copies of a popular fiction title and sometimes only 3. I am not sure how the ordering is done but I do know that we can request certain things. With that being said, it would not be prudent for a branch at ACPL to separate African American and GLBTQ genres from the general collection as we have no control over how much we will receive. I think it would seem rude and demeaning to have one or two shelves with these separate genres on them. Keeping all genres together in the general collection is the only fair way to do it. Also, space is a huge concern for most of the ACPL branches and again it just would not be prudent to separate different genres.
If you do start separating genres, where do you stop? What about religious fiction or the Amish romance novels? I do believe everything should be shevled together but I also believe that we should showcase these genres and authors. It never fails that books on displays get checked out. You can move books that have not circulated for over a year onto a book display and I guarantee they will be checked out.
So I conclude, showcase NOT separate!!
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is hard to say when do you stop at separating the different genres. The library where I work we have Mystery and Science Fiction separated and we have been trying to get each of the genres integrated into our General Fiction. Why do we have just two genres separated when everything is together? Especially with the authors that write in different genres. I think it's hard for a patron to have to look in two different places for an author. It's hard to remember what title will be where. My library often has displayed books for different occasions and yes, this does help move books. We have a display right now on William Shakespeare and another one about self-help books.
I agree with what you say about displayed books. It doesn't matter the topic or genre, people are drawn to them. I think separating books by such specific requirements as GLBTQ and African American makes it more difficult for people to connect to them. I choose books based on main genres (fantasy, romance, etc.) and not the ethnicity or decisions of the main characters.
ReplyDeleteAt the library close to me, which is the Shawnee branch of the Allen County Public Library. They separate paperback from the hardback books into categories romance, historical romance, western, general, urban or African American. They also divide the Classical and large print books. I have been volunteering there about a year and I still have a hard time finding the paperback books sometimes. I must agree people often want the books on display.
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