I gave most of my picture books away over the years. I kept the best ones for the future, but as my children aged out of them, I shared the rest with friends to make room for my growing collection of chapter and middle grade books. Because of that, when I set up my library, I decided to organize my picture books really differently than most of the other librarians I was following. And, so far, it’s been working really, really well for us.
Category: Book Organization
Shelving Geography and Non-Fiction History – Sandy Hall
Question: How can I shelve and organize nonfiction history and geography books? This answer is one of several of our featured answers. To see the other answers, click here. Sandy Hall of Hall’s Living Library Here’s my list of categories. Basically, it follows the DD system, just by category rather than numbers. Then I alphabetize…
How do some librarians label their books?
From Mary Schubert of Pursell Schubert Legacy Library in Oklahoma: There are many ways that you can label your books. I use the Avery Return Labels Avery Easy Peel Laser Address Labels, 1/2″ x 1 3/4″, White, 2000 Labels Per Pack (5267) | Staples for my library name and label identification. Since I do not have a…
How can I organize and shelve picture books?
NOTE: Many (most?) of the librarians simply shelve fiction picture books in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. Science picture books are shelved with the other science books using whatever system of classification you are using for those books. History and biography picture books are shelved the same way in their subject areas. However,…
How do I organize and shelve science books?
The default way to classify, shelve, and organize all of your books is to use the Dewy Decimal system. Read more about Dewey in our article: “Ask the Librarian About Classification: What is the Dewy Decimal System, and how can I use it?” However, if you’ve decided against Dewey for whatever reason, what other system…