So far, most of the library data and reflections that deal with areas of my library and circulating collections, have been those of unaparallel success. Heh. Today I'm going to talk about one that I'm still not 100% happy with, but which turned out to be the best we could do at the time and we are getting used to it, or so circulation numbers say.
About two years ago, in preparation for changing the picture books to Neighborhoods, I revamped the juvenile fiction. I wanted more space for picture books and to make a natural progression from picture book to easy reader to chapter book. I wanted to integrate the graphic novels with the fiction, since many kids were going straight to the graphic novel shelves and ignoring the rest of the chapter books and there are many authors who are doing more graphic blends and a variety of formats. I also wanted to make the paperback series more specifically beginning chapter series, and not just "whatever happened to be paperback" series.
But, what to do with series that had no specific author? American Girl, 39 Clues, Superheroes, etc. We finally decided to have a "favorites" section at the beginning of the juvenile chapter books, replacing the graphic novels. This has been of mixed success. A lot of kids still go straight there looking for superheroes, Star Wars, etc. It has been rather confusing for shelvers to remember that items without the normal 3 letter call number go here and not back in the regular chapter books. Because it's where the graphic novels used to be, and because many of the favorites are graphic novels, a lot of kids think these are the only graphic novels we have and the constant cries of "Where is Bone?" can get a bit exhausting. However, people have slowly figured it out and juvenile circulation has climbed back to its former numbers and even grown a little, slowly but surely.
The display thingy in the forefront is where all the new juvenile fiction goes. It has its own location to assist staff in finding titles for picks and circulates really well, especially in summer. The diver feet on the floor lead to easy readers on the right and favorites on the left.
This is part of the favorites section, with logos listed on top. This is mainly for adults, since most kids aren't tall enough to see them.Some favorites, like Hello Kitty, Power Rangers, etc. only have a couple volumes and my ultimate goal is to either add to or clear out these minimal ones.
These are the paperback series. The diver feet lead back around the shelf with the Bone poster and here they are. This collection used to be a massive source of circulation, as kids went straight here for series, but I shrunk it a lot so it really does have only beginning chapter books and would fit in the smaller space. Of course, now lots of people don't realize we have many beginning chapter books in the juvenile fiction....
I finally got labels on the paperback series. I plan to add pool noodles to keep them from squeezing to the back.
The diver feet come out and point towards our big beginning chapters display. Eventually we'll change this over, but we've had it up since April and it's gone quite well over the summer. It's not an ideal place for a display, but it's better than where it was before.
Also, it's fun to listen to little kids quack as they follow the "duck feet" every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment