Fiction_L Archives interfiling genres Dates: 2/7/00,3:31 PM  through  2/14/00,10:23 AM  (13 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to February 2000 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: "Joanne Herb, Morris County Library" <[removed]@main.morris.org>
REC'D: 2/7/00, 3:31 PM

Hello,

Our head of collection development just gave me a topic for thought and/or
discussion. We are building an addition to our building. When it's done,
sometime next year, the idea is to combine all the fiction genres into one
large fiction section, differentiating genres by book stickers.

YAs and foreign languages would still be separate.

This has the advantage of getting all an author's fiction in one place
regardless of genre.

We did something similar with biographies a few years ago-- recataloged them
all into appropriate subject areas and slapped biography stickers on them.

Has anyone out there done something like this with fiction? What disadvantages
do you see?

Thanks in advance!

Joanne Herb
Reader Services
Morris County Library
Whippany, NJ

FROM: "J Heuer" <[removed]@itol.com>
REC'D: 2/7/00, 6:23 PM

This came up at our library along time ago. We were against interfiling when
our director proposed it and we argued her out of the idea. We have found
that genre readers do not want to look for their books all over the stacks.
Science fiction readers want to read science fiction and if they want to
know if their favorite author writes anything else they ask us or check the
card catalog. One of our branches tried an interfile and the patrons really
disliked it. Right now we are in the process of pulling out all of our
biographies and putting them in a separate section all their own because for
years we have gotten complaints about looking through all the books to find
a biography. (they are marked on the spine with a 1 1/2" neon yellow dot).
We are also pulling out the videos from the main collection and giving them
their own space. They were filed with books by their Dewey (We didn't have
movies at the time but just non-fic. that will change now that we will have
a separate video collection).


--
Jeanne Heuer
Brown County Library
Green Bay, WI
[removed]@itol.com

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes, Art is knowing which ones
to keep." -anonymous

----------
>From: "Joanne Herb, Morris County Library" <[removed]@main.morris.org>
>To: [removed]@maillist.nslsilus.org
>Subject: question about interfiling various fiction genres
>Date: Mon, Feb 7, 2000, 3:37 PM
>

> Hello,
>
> Our head of collection development just gave me a topic for thought and/or
> discussion. We are building an addition to our building. When it's done,
> sometime next year, the idea is to combine all the fiction genres into one
> large fiction section, differentiating genres by book stickers.
>
> YAs and foreign languages would still be separate.
>
> This has the advantage of getting all an author's fiction in one place
> regardless of genre.
>
> We did something similar with biographies a few years ago-- recataloged them
> all into appropriate subject areas and slapped biography stickers on them.
>
> Has anyone out there done something like this with fiction? What disadvantages
> do you see?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Joanne Herb
> Reader Services
> Morris County Library
> Whippany, NJ
>
>

FROM: "Lynda Whitton-Henley" <[removed]@intcomm.net>
REC'D: 2/7/00, 10:44 PM

I am still in the process of labeling a wide variety of genres in our fiction
section. We have Mysteries, Westerns & SciFic labeled in the cateloging process.
I did take all the Westerns and put them in one corner with a big picture of John
Wayne and a covered wagon on the top shelf. I have debated, read the comments
made on this list, a couple of journal articles. My branch has about 29,000 items
in the adult section (F & NF). I thought that my labeling them with popular
categories/genres would help people find other books or authors who wrote their
favorite genre. It is definately working from the favorable comments I've had.

I started by labeling with Historical Fiction (emphasis on time period, not
romance), Classics, Fantasy. I also added new labaels over MANY faded labels. As
I went through the collection I also did some weeding based on condition and some
went to mending.
On the second run through, I am now using Christian Fiction (often with another
label i.e Historical Fiction{with a man & women in period dress in a semblance of
an embrace}), Native America, Horror, & Short Stories. I'm about half way through
the latter because I am using the "Short Stories for a Short Month" as my display
for the month. They aren't moving like previous displays. Lots of people really
like the Christian Fiction. These are the ones who will read all of Oke's,
Pearth, Pella, G. Morrison, etc.

I didn't find a label that for Historical Romance...but the one we have that I use
lends itself to that interpretation. I wasn't real happy with the Frankenstein
for Horrow, and maybe I should have gotten some ghosts labels. I need to look (we
used about 4 different catalogs) for suspense/thrillers, it really is a never
ending task, there's the psycholical thrillers (Joy Fielder, Mary Willis Walker).
Then there's the war fiction.

One thing for sure, I am really learning my collection and maintaining the weeding
process. One other thing, someone needs to keep an eye for books needing labels
as they are checked in and before going to the shelf.

Probably more than you wanted to read. I run off at the keyboard as well as at
the mouth.

Lynda Whitton-Henley
NW Br. Lib. Corpus Christi, TX
[removed]@intcomm.net


"Joanne Herb, Morris County Library" wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Our head of collection development just gave me a topic for thought and/or
> discussion. We are building an addition to our building. When it's done,
> sometime next year, the idea is to combine all the fiction genres into one
> large fiction section, differentiating genres by book stickers.
>
> YAs and foreign languages would still be separate.
>
> This has the advantage of getting all an author's fiction in one place
> regardless of genre.
>
> We did something similar with biographies a few years ago-- recataloged them
> all into appropriate subject areas and slapped biography stickers on them.
>
> Has anyone out there done something like this with fiction? What disadvantages
> do you see?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Joanne Herb
> Reader Services
> Morris County Library
> Whippany, NJ

FROM: "Suzanne O'Gorman" <[removed]@linc.lib.il.us>
REC'D: 2/8/00, 8:22 AM

What do you do with the mixed-genre titles? The romantic vampire
mysteries & the christian historical romances. (It's getting a bit
ridiculous! -- In fact, we try to come up with the most complicated, most
sticker laden title! :-) Obviously, we don't actually give them ALL those
stickers!)
This seems to be a trend that is increasing. Any ideas?


Suzanne O'Gorman
St. Charles Public Library
St. Charles, IL


----------
From: J Heuer[[removed]@itol.com]
Subject: Re: question about interfiling various fiction genres

This came up at our library along time ago. We were against interfiling
when
our director proposed it and we argued her out of the idea. We have found
that genre readers do not want to look for their books all over the stacks.
Science fiction readers want to read science fiction and if they want to
know if their favorite author writes anything else they ask us or check the
card catalog. One of our branches tried an interfile and the patrons really
disliked it.

FROM: "aaron smith" <[removed]@oplin.lib.oh.us>
REC'D: 2/8/00, 9:38 AM

This question about interfiling vs. genre segregation has all sorts of
implications, many of them decades old. Do we structure our patrons
reading habits by the ways we organize our collections? How do we market
our collections (I recall the recent discussion about bringing short-story
compilations into more circulation)? For every patron who proclaims the
difficulty of an interfiled system, there is a reader who embraces the
titles that are not easily categorized.

The decades-old solution to the problem was, and remains, cataloging and
classification. Those of us interested in Readers' Advisory continue to
stress to our catalogers the importance of usable subject headings and
annotations for fiction. The implementation of automated keyword
searching which encompasses many MARC fields at once can be a tremendous
assist to readers (and their reference facilitators!)

The current public library ethos of customer service (arguably the
goal of genre segregation) does not imply that we shouldn't remember the
old paradigm of the self-educated library user, and the development of
tools to point such a user to a location in an intergrated collection.
Both approaches retain the interest of the reader as the ultimate goal.

Reflections,
Aaron
Clermont County Public Library, Ohio

FROM: "Kathy Loucks" <[removed]@cml.lib.oh.us>
REC'D: 2/8/00, 9:45 AM

I agree with Jeanne Heuer's comment that patrons prefer the genres separated. In fact, we used to have all our genres interfiled, but when we moved into our new building in 1991, we took the opportunity to separate genres, even though it was a pretty big job getting everything spine-labelled properly, changed in the catalog to show genre location, and reshelved.

FROM: "Claudia Livolsi" <[removed]@biblio.org>
REC'D: 2/8/00, 10:35 AM

At the library where I used to work, we interfiled all fiction genres.
Patrons often requested that we put mysteries into a separate section but
didn't make that request for other genres. Even though the mysteries had
stickers, patrons expressed a preference for having them in a separate
section. Where I currently work, we have sections for mysteries, westerns
and short stories. People seem to like that since I think mystery readers
may tend to read mysteries exclusively and find it more convenient when
they are located in one area.


Claudia Livolsi
Children's Librarian
Monroe Public Library
Monroe, CT
[removed]@biblio.org

FROM: "Theyer Hillary" <[removed]@TORRNET.COM>
REC'D: 2/8/00, 11:13 AM

I guess my different point of view comes from moving from a library that
separates genres (Mystery, SF and Fantasy, Short Stories) to a library that
interfiles with genre labels. I didnāt have to make the transition.

The key I have found is how the catalog will list the location. In the
library that separated genres, the catalog was very flexible and would list
NEW Fiction, Fiction, NEW Mystery, Mystery, New Science Fiction, Science
Fiction, Short Stories, New Western, Western, and anything else we wanted
including Parenting, Display Area, etc. Patrons new exactly the name of the
section they wanted, the signs were clear, and the labels matched exactly.

At my current library, we interfile all genres, with spine labels for
mystery, western, SF and Fantasy, and YA. The catalog is less flexible, so
to separate them would leave patrons guessing, to a certain extent, which
authors belonged in which section. Authors like Stephen King would cross
over into three places. I walked into this system as established, and we
get no complaints, especially once we explain that if they are not sure
about an authorās location, they can look in two places, New and Regular
Fiction. Thatās it. I also personally believe in serendipity in browsing,
and the amount of extra time it takes someone to browse for mystery labels
is well worth the discovery of a new author.

Hillary Theyer
Torrance Public Library

FROM: "Tom Dillie" <[removed]@wadsworth.lib.oh.us>
REC'D: 2/8/00, 11:29 AM

Joanne,
I would urge you not to interfile the major genres: Mystery, Westerns, Science
Fiction/Fantasy. We did have an integrated hardcover fiction collection with the
books spine-labeled in the following categories: Horror, Mystery, Romance, Science
Fiction, Western. The rest of the collection is considered general fiction and
not labeled. A couple of years ago I separated Mystery, Science Fiction, and
Western into their own sections. Those genres include many hardcover titles
(unlike horror) and are fairly easy to define both for us and for the patrons
(unlike romance). It makes it much easier for fans of those genres to browse
now. While we probably all can agree that useful subject headings for fiction are
a good idea, browsing the shelves rather than searching the catalog is still the
way most of our patrons use the fiction collection.

Tom Dillie, Adult Services Librarian
Wadsworth Public Library
132 Broad St.
Wadsworth OH 44281
www.wadsworth.lib.oh.us

"Joanne Herb, Morris County Library" wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Our head of collection development just gave me a topic for thought and/or
> discussion. We are building an addition to our building. When it's done,
> sometime next year, the idea is to combine all the fiction genres into one
> large fiction section, differentiating genres by book stickers.
>
> YAs and foreign languages would still be separate.
>
> This has the advantage of getting all an author's fiction in one place
> regardless of genre.
>
> We did something similar with biographies a few years ago-- recataloged them
> all into appropriate subject areas and slapped biography stickers on them.
>
> Has anyone out there done something like this with fiction? What disadvantages
> do you see?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Joanne Herb
> Reader Services
> Morris County Library
> Whippany, NJ

FROM: "Deb Warner" <[removed]@co.durham.nc.us>
REC'D: 2/8/00, 12:11 PM

FROM: "Diana Tixier Herald" <[removed]@wic.net>
REC'D: 2/8/00, 2:57 PM

There has actually be academic type research done on this topic by
Sharon Baker. I don't have access to the citations right now but they
were published in the 80s and early 90s. She determined that the size of
the collection had a bearing on whether or not it was best to separate
out the genres. In my opinion, unless you are in a tiny library, patrons
are best served by providing them with easily browsed sections of the
genres they want to read.

--
Happy reading,
Di Herald
[removed]@wic.net see the Genreflecting page at
<A HREF="http://www.mancon.com/genre/">http://www.mancon.com/genre/</A>
Rosenberg's First Law of Reading "Never apologize for your reading
tastes."

FROM: "Jeffrey, Denise" <[removed]@Central.tased.edu.au>
REC'D: 2/8/00, 9:00 PM

I've been very interested in reading how other libraries file their fiction.
The State Library of Tasmania is a statewide organisation with 50 service
points. We have recently addressed the question of fiction shelving and
taken a decision to separate the romance, crime, westerns and science
fantasy from the main collection. We 'sticker' our sci-fi and fantasy within
the genre but they share shelf space.

We also 'sticker' adventure, historical, horror and humour fiction, family
sagas, short stories (these are shelved with the genre where possible),
thrillers and war fiction but shelve them in the general collection.

We are using a Dynix system which allows for fiction collection codes that
indicate where a title is shelved.

Denise

Denise Jeffrey,
Selection Librarian,
State Library of Tasmania,
91 Murray St.,
Hobart 7000

Phone 61 3 6233 7049
Fax 61 3 62337506
Email [removed]@central.tased.edu.au
<A HREF="http://www.tased.edu.au/library/readalik/index.htm">http://www.tased.edu.au/library/readalik/index.htm</A>

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joanne Herb, Morris County Library [[removed]@main.morris.org]
> Sent: Tuesday, 8 February 2000 8:37
> [removed]@maillist.nslsilus.org
> [removed]@main.morris.org
> Subject: question about interfiling various fiction genres
>
> Hello,
>
> Our head of collection development just gave me a topic for thought and/or
> discussion. We are building an addition to our building. When it's done,
> sometime next year, the idea is to combine all the fiction genres into one
>
> large fiction section, differentiating genres by book stickers.
>
> YAs and foreign languages would still be separate.
>
> This has the advantage of getting all an author's fiction in one place
> regardless of genre.
>
> We did something similar with biographies a few years ago-- recataloged
> them
> all into appropriate subject areas and slapped biography stickers on them.
>
> Has anyone out there done something like this with fiction? What
> disadvantages
> do you see?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Joanne Herb
> Reader Services
> Morris County Library
> Whippany, NJ
>

FROM: "Joanne Herb, Morris County Library" <[removed]@main.morris.org>
REC'D: 2/14/00, 10:23 AM

Thanks to all who've replied so far-- we've been closed for constructio for two
days, so I'm behind on reading everyone's comments. I do appreciate it, and
keep the discussion going!

Thanks again.

Joanne Herb
Reader Services
Morris County Library

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