However, some of us like inventing and reinventing, or we want to do things just a little differently from the way Melvil Dewey shelved his books. SO here a few other possible organizational schemes.
Category: Librarian
What are some sample fees and policies for private lending libraries?
It is well to be clear in communicating your expectations for payment of fees or fines and of book care and handling to prospective library patrons. Here are a few samples of what various librarians expect from the patrons who borrow books from their private lending libraries. From Elizabeth Jones, Covenant Family Library, West Virginia…
Sara Masarik of Plumfield Living Books Library in Wisconsin
I have always been a collector of books. My whole family is full of readers – my grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents, cousins, and siblings. We all read. And read a lot. My grandparents and my parents each had rooms in their homes dubbed “the library” that were packed to the gills with books of all…
Robin Pack of Children’s Legacy Library in Tennessee
“Robin, have you ever thought about opening a library?” That simple question, asked on a hot, muggy day in August, 2001, changed the trajectory of my life and the lives of the families who would someday walk through my library door. My husband, 10-year-old son, and I were attending a living books gathering “on the…
What is a List of 101 Basic Living Books for a Starter Collection?
This list is not a list of books required to start a lending library or books that must be in every library, but if you want to start collecting, these are 101 books that are good, true, beautiful, and in demand. Most of these books are not prohibitively expensive to purchase or hard to find,…
How do I move an entire library or put it in storage for a while?
From Kathy Twitchell, librarian at Literary Lantern Bearers in Kingfield, Maine. Do you need to move your library? Do you find the need to store some of your collection elsewhere? There are a few things one might consider if one needs to move or store a significant quantity of books. One thing to consider is Distance….
How do library binding processes affect the longevity of the book?
From Kathy Twitchell, Librarian at Literary Lantern Bearers in Kingfield, Maine. Generally speaking, a vintage book was designed to be read dozens of times, if not hundreds. However, there are indeed many variables that affect the longevity of the book. Let’s look at just a few at this point. HARDCOVER versus PAPERBACK: In the past,…
How does paper quality affect the longevity of a book?
From Kathy Twitchell, librarian at Literary Lantern Bearers in Kingfield, Maine. PAGE QUALITY: Just a quick note about pages. The whiter (or creamier) the paper, the less lignin content remains. Lignins naturally occur in plant and wood fibers. The oxidation of these lignins is what makes cheap paper break down over time, yellowing and becoming…
Kathie Johnson’s Library Journey
From Kathie Johnson of Neighborhood Children’s Library in Berkley, CA. How My Library Came About I began collecting books as a young 5th-grade teacher. My principal’s wife was big on book fairs, and I got hooked. This was in the 1960’s, and many of the large publishers were just coming out with paperback versions of their children’s…
Hall’s Living Library, from State to State Over Five Decades
Growing up, I loved to read. I think I read everything in our school library, especially the elementary school library. Both of my college degrees are in education, and my favorite courses were Children’s Literature. As I began teaching school in upstate New York and in Pennsylvania, my knowledge of children’s books, authors, and illustrators…
Ask the Librarian About Book Selection: How do I determine the reading level of a book?
There is no official body that assigns a reading level to books. Most often, a book’s reading level is determined by the book’s publishers. A book review or publisher’s description is the original source for a book’s reading level designation. The book publisher will assign the book to a certain category for marketing purposes such…
Ask the Librarian: What are the different kinds of book binding and publishing categories?
There are many more terms and materials for covering and binding books–leather bound, cardboard covers, cloth bound, and more. But these are some of the most frequently used, and confused, in libraries and in the general book trade. You can read more details about library binding in this Wikipedia article. The problem with all of…
What is a private living books lending library, and how can I start one?
Somewhere, somehow you’ve been introduced to the idea of a “living books lending library,” a private library operated by a librarian who wants to give the gift of living books to her community. Perhaps you were once a patron of a living books library, but now you are in a new place where there is no…
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…