The Great Genrefication Process

I've jumped on the genre train for my library organization and thanks to those who've gone before me, I think I might have survived it.

This was my first year as a Media Specialist, and I wasn't sure where to start. The previous librarian had a hard time letting go of things and was in the job for over thirty years. Coming from teaching Language Arts to middle-schoolers, this was a whole new world. Thank goodness for blogs such as Don't You Shush Me and Surpass users like Rachel Carter from Red Bud Middle School.

Shelves packed with old books

About half of these titles were weeded out. I did Modge Podge some letters with old pages for decor.

After weeding thousands of out-dated books, I wanted to get to know and update my collection. I purchased online databases from Gale to beef up my non-fiction section and to buy time before I purchased new non-fiction titles that would be of interest to students and used for class curriculums.

The library did not have much traffic, so I began my campaign to get more students in the Media Center, even during Covid.

I reached out through newsletters, social media, new decor, new activities and occasionally some bribing. After reading several blogs and posts about genrefication, I decided that was my next step. I found helpful ideas but nothing for those who use Surpass software, so here's how I attacked the process.

Step 1:

• I downloaded my shelf lists and procured genre lists from various book companies. I was able to get ones from Follett and PermaBound. I merged those into one Google Sheet and then deleted duplicate titles. As I was deleting duplicates, I also put books into similar genres. I also used the Filter Tool to help me but make sure you have the same exact name for each genre (for example "Fantasy" or "Fantasy fiction" but not both as shown below). Using the "Sort sheet A-Z" under the arrow at the top of each column also helped a great deal.

Step 2: Before touching the books...

• I was very nervous about deciding on genres; therefore doing everything on a Sheet helped my look at my collection. In the beginning, I had these basic genres: Action/Adventure, Romance, Classics, Sports, Realistic Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Horror, and Graphic Novels.

As other genrefication posts mentioned, there were some categories that had hundreds of books while others had 30. I debated a long time on which genres would work best for my high school students and my collection. After analyzing everything, I decided that Kelsey Bogan's system made the most sense for my students. So I borrowed her organization, tweaked it a little, and grouped books into the following seven categories:

I didn't think my classics or historical fiction would get much interest so I included into my Realistic Fiction list. Then, since I was breaking up Realistic Fiction into two categories, I had to take my romances, historical fiction, classics, and realistic fiction and decide if a book fit into Relationships/Identity or Adversity/Overcoming. GoodReads was very helpful in making this decision.

Step 3: Sticker Time

• Now that I had my genres, I ordered round stickers from Demco. Rachel Carter helped with tips on those.

• Previously, my books were just categorized as fiction or non-fiction in Surpass. I created genres in Surpass Categories using colors of my stickers (now there is the Demco sticker option- Yay!).

• I set-up a cart with my sticker, label covers, lap-top, and scanner.

• I opened tabs on laptop for Surpass to View Resources, my merged genre google sheet, and GoodReads.

• Starting alphabetically by author, I picked up every fiction book to verify genre with my list (many times double-checked with GoodReads), then scanned the book, changed the book to the appropriate category in the Surpass holding box, attached the sticker, and highlighted the title in merged Sheet.

• Once done, I changed my Explore categories on OPAC to my genres and edited them to search by specific Surpass category. (Thank you Surpass for adding those.)

• Finally, I printed out a list of my Lost materials. I then viewed Resources by Fiction category. I compared that list to my Lost books list and caught some of the titles that didn't save to their proper genre category and were still listed as fiction.

• This was a good step because I definitely missed saving some of my titles to the correct catalog genre. Then the only titles left in that category were items that were classified as "Lost".

Making the big Move

Once every book had stickers, I decided to start moving them into sections based on their genre. The previous librarian had grouped fiction into two categories: stand-alone and series.

To help save me headaches down the road, I quickly made a floor plan of my space to decide the best location for sections. I used The Library Store's Room Planner. It is basically drawn to scale so whenever I want to rearrange things, I can do so on paper first. I have a pretty small library, which makes this step pretty easy.

With all this prep work done, it didn't take me long at all to move all the books. I stacked some on top of shelves and just started clearing shelves off as I reorganized the books alphabetically into their genres.

As you can see on the following picture, the left side has been reorganized and the right side has books that need to be pulled and placed in their specific area.

Since I did most of the organization on paper, I knew how much space I needed for each category.

Finishing touches

To help students understand the genre categories, I created signage on Canvas. Here's a link to the genre sign templates if you would like a starting place.

I think I might used matte clear spray paint before the start of the school year on them to remove the glare. I also might put colored paper behind the shelves to match the colors, but I think the dots do the trick for now. Here's a few shots of the finished product.

My Science Fiction and Fantasy are on one side of the library. While most of the other categories are on the other.

This process helps tell me that my Action/Adventure/Sports category needs some more titles, but I will also have to see what the students think.

I also put the two Realistic Fiction categories next to each other to make it easier for students who might like both.

The school year has ended and the process is finished... for now. I look forward to seeing my students’ reactions to the new organization and what has worked and what needs to be revised.

I hope this was helpful if you are interested in genrefying. Please contact me with questions and comments.