Genre Separation-Where are the Romances, Westerns, Horror... (fwd)
Dates: 11/17/99,5:19 PM through 11/29/99,1:08 PM (3 postings)
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Genre Separation-Where are the Romances, Westerns, Horror... (fwd)
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FROM: "Fiction_L" <[removed]@nslsilus.ORG>
REC'D: 11/17/99, 5:19 PM
This time last year we were "stickering" our fiction collection of =
55,000 books!
Deb Warner was one of our lead stickerers! We rearranged the shelves and =
sorted all the books by genre: general fiction,mysteries, science =
fiction and fantasy--stickered separately but filed together, westerns, =
horror, adventure, and--yes romance! During the actual 3 day move in =
January, 52 volunteers racked up 265 hours! (A large group of students =
from the library schools at both North Carolina Central and UNC-CH were =
part of that group!)
This project has incredible help from 2 of Dr. Ken Shearer's Public =
Library classes at NCCU. They did a lot of research of genre separation =
and may have talked to some of you.They worked on many projects to =
increase our fiction circulation and this was one of them. One student, =
Penelope Hamblin wrote fantastic guidelines for the genrefication of the =
collection. In includes OUR definition of genres, her research, and a =
good bit of humor! She called it "Class Consciousness: Training =
materials for Fiction Cataloguers at the Durham County Library." If =
anyone wants our guidelines for the genres, please contact me directly =
and I will fax or mail you a copy.
To give you an idea of what it looks like we have a page for each genre:
=20
Romance
What: A love story in a contemporary, historical or exotic setting.
Covers: May be pink, lavender, red, or white with silver or gold. Curly =
script. May give the impression of a valentine or a wedding invitation =
Illustrations my show embracing or flirting couples, bare-chested men, =
hearts, flowers, jewelry, feathers, colorful draping fabrics.
Keywords and Themes: Love, lady, marriage, heart , passion, desire, =
sweet surrender, hellion, rake, aristocratic titles.
Other clues: MUST HAVE A HAPPY ENDING. Read the last few lines. If the =
heroine and her man are adoring each other, it's probably a romance. =
Otherwise, it's probably not....(more I'm not sending here, but you get =
the idea....)
Confusions: Beware. Some hardback books that look exactly like romances =
are not true genre romances. We do not include family sagas of several =
generations or contemporary stories of women's lives....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
--------------------------------------------
The problems we have had have be what you would expect. I still find =
books whose genre classification was not chanced in our automated =
system. I sometimes have good discussions with folks who want a book in =
a different place and sometimes we do change the genre!
But the public response has been great! Most of the people who at first =
didn't like it at first do now. One very up set lady said she realized =
she just read general fiction and mysteries and now can do "focused =
browsing" and avoid the "junk!"
I have patrons coming in from the branches (who do not separate their =
collection) to use the Main library because it is "easier to use." While =
our total circulation has been going down over the last year, the =
fiction has held its on and is beginning to increase.
Romances is not the hardest genre for us. It is adventure. If I were =
doing this all over, I would think hard about using thrillers instead of =
adventure!
We do split authors. The automated system clearly gives the books =
location. We split nonfiction authors all the time, I don't understand =
why we get so up set at the idea of splitting fiction authors!
This project was not easy! But boy was it fun! And patrons sure do like =
it.
Hope this is not too long for good list serve manners!=20
FROM: "Lynda Whitton-Henley" <[removed]@intcomm.net>
REC'D: 11/18/99, 10:49 PM
I attempted a direct e-mail to you but it was returned.
The journal articles are:
The Responsive Public Library Collection: How to Develop and Market it by
Sharon L. Baker, Univ. of Iowas, 1993 Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Englewood, CO,
270-272.
Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library 2nd ed by Joyce G. Saricks and
Nancy Brown, ALA Chicao & London, 1997 p 107-109.
Fiction_L wrote:
> From: "Joanne Abel" <[removed]@co.durham.nc.us>
>
> This time last year we were "stickering" our fiction collection of =
> 55,000 books!
> Deb Warner was one of our lead stickerers! We rearranged the shelves and =
> sorted all the books by genre: general fiction,mysteries, science =
> fiction and fantasy--stickered separately but filed together, westerns, =
> horror, adventure, and--yes romance! During the actual 3 day move in =
> January, 52 volunteers racked up 265 hours! (A large group of students =
> from the library schools at both North Carolina Central and UNC-CH were =
> part of that group!)
>
> This project has incredible help from 2 of Dr. Ken Shearer's Public =
> Library classes at NCCU. They did a lot of research of genre separation =
> and may have talked to some of you.They worked on many projects to =
> increase our fiction circulation and this was one of them. One student, =
> Penelope Hamblin wrote fantastic guidelines for the genrefication of the =
> collection. In includes OUR definition of genres, her research, and a =
> good bit of humor! She called it "Class Consciousness: Training =
> materials for Fiction Cataloguers at the Durham County Library." If =
> anyone wants our guidelines for the genres, please contact me directly =
> and I will fax or mail you a copy.
>
> To give you an idea of what it looks like we have a page for each genre:
> =20
> Romance
> What: A love story in a contemporary, historical or exotic setting.
>
> Covers: May be pink, lavender, red, or white with silver or gold. Curly =
> script. May give the impression of a valentine or a wedding invitation =
> Illustrations my show embracing or flirting couples, bare-chested men, =
> hearts, flowers, jewelry, feathers, colorful draping fabrics.
>
> Keywords and Themes: Love, lady, marriage, heart , passion, desire, =
> sweet surrender, hellion, rake, aristocratic titles.
> Other clues: MUST HAVE A HAPPY ENDING. Read the last few lines. If the =
> heroine and her man are adoring each other, it's probably a romance. =
> Otherwise, it's probably not....(more I'm not sending here, but you get =
> the idea....)
>
> Confusions: Beware. Some hardback books that look exactly like romances =
> are not true genre romances. We do not include family sagas of several =
> generations or contemporary stories of women's lives....
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> --------------------------------------------
> The problems we have had have be what you would expect. I still find =
> books whose genre classification was not chanced in our automated =
> system. I sometimes have good discussions with folks who want a book in =
> a different place and sometimes we do change the genre!
>
> But the public response has been great! Most of the people who at first =
> didn't like it at first do now. One very up set lady said she realized =
> she just read general fiction and mysteries and now can do "focused =
> browsing" and avoid the "junk!"
> I have patrons coming in from the branches (who do not separate their =
> collection) to use the Main library because it is "easier to use." While =
> our total circulation has been going down over the last year, the =
> fiction has held its on and is beginning to increase.
>
> Romances is not the hardest genre for us. It is adventure. If I were =
> doing this all over, I would think hard about using thrillers instead of =
> adventure!
> We do split authors. The automated system clearly gives the books =
> location. We split nonfiction authors all the time, I don't understand =
> why we get so up set at the idea of splitting fiction authors!
>
> This project was not easy! But boy was it fun! And patrons sure do like =
> it.
> Hope this is not too long for good list serve manners!=20
FROM: "Joanna Hazelden" <[removed]@chipublib.org>
REC'D: 11/29/99, 1:08 PM
Joanna Hazelden
Fiction_L wrote:
> From: "Joanne Abel" <[removed]@co.durham.nc.us>
>
> This time last year we were "stickering" our fiction collection of =
> 55,000 books!
> Deb Warner was one of our lead stickerers! We rearranged the shelves and =
> sorted all the books by genre: general fiction,mysteries, science =
> fiction and fantasy--stickered separately but filed together, westerns, =
> horror, adventure, and--yes romance! During the actual 3 day move in =
> January, 52 volunteers racked up 265 hours! (A large group of students =
> from the library schools at both North Carolina Central and UNC-CH were =
> part of that group!)
>
> This project has incredible help from 2 of Dr. Ken Shearer's Public =
> Library classes at NCCU. They did a lot of research of genre separation =
> and may have talked to some of you.They worked on many projects to =
> increase our fiction circulation and this was one of them. One student, =
> Penelope Hamblin wrote fantastic guidelines for the genrefication of the =
> collection. In includes OUR definition of genres, her research, and a =
> good bit of humor! She called it "Class Consciousness: Training =
> materials for Fiction Cataloguers at the Durham County Library." If =
> anyone wants our guidelines for the genres, please contact me directly =
> and I will fax or mail you a copy.
>
> To give you an idea of what it looks like we have a page for each genre:
> =20
> Romance
> What: A love story in a contemporary, historical or exotic setting.
>
> Covers: May be pink, lavender, red, or white with silver or gold. Curly =
> script. May give the impression of a valentine or a wedding invitation =
> Illustrations my show embracing or flirting couples, bare-chested men, =
> hearts, flowers, jewelry, feathers, colorful draping fabrics.
>
> Keywords and Themes: Love, lady, marriage, heart , passion, desire, =
> sweet surrender, hellion, rake, aristocratic titles.
> Other clues: MUST HAVE A HAPPY ENDING. Read the last few lines. If the =
> heroine and her man are adoring each other, it's probably a romance. =
> Otherwise, it's probably not....(more I'm not sending here, but you get =
> the idea....)
>
> Confusions: Beware. Some hardback books that look exactly like romances =
> are not true genre romances. We do not include family sagas of several =
> generations or contemporary stories of women's lives....
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> --------------------------------------------
> The problems we have had have be what you would expect. I still find =
> books whose genre classification was not chanced in our automated =
> system. I sometimes have good discussions with folks who want a book in =
> a different place and sometimes we do change the genre!
>
> But the public response has been great! Most of the people who at first =
> didn't like it at first do now. One very up set lady said she realized =
> she just read general fiction and mysteries and now can do "focused =
> browsing" and avoid the "junk!"
> I have patrons coming in from the branches (who do not separate their =
> collection) to use the Main library because it is "easier to use." While =
> our total circulation has been going down over the last year, the =
> fiction has held its on and is beginning to increase.
>
> Romances is not the hardest genre for us. It is adventure. If I were =
> doing this all over, I would think hard about using thrillers instead of =
> adventure!
> We do split authors. The automated system clearly gives the books =
> location. We split nonfiction authors all the time, I don't understand =
> why we get so up set at the idea of splitting fiction authors!
>
> This project was not easy! But boy was it fun! And patrons sure do like =
> it.
> Hope this is not too long for good list serve manners!=20
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