Changing Things Up (Ditching Dewey) Resources

A few of the most helpful resources that we used as we "Changed Things Up" and went to a book store model in our non-fiction/informational section of the DES library are listed below.

The Candid Librarian

The Centered School Library

Eliterate Librarian

Library Journal Article: It's Not About Dewey (11/01/09)

Mighty Little Librarian

Scoop It: Dewey Free Library

Summer Project: Kill Dewey (great classification list)

Van Meter Library Voice (several blog posts about the process, from start to finish)

Supplies:

Spine Stickers

After looking at a variety of colored spine labels and stickers, we decided to go with these from Demco.  There are many other options, just make sure there are enough color and shape options available.

Shelf Markers

Demco Block Shelf Markers

The Process 
Non-Fiction Section
Changing Things Up
Changing Things Up - Part II
Changing Things Up - Part III

I must give a huge "shout-out" to Shannon McClintock Miller, as she was my inspiration throughout the entire project!  Thank you for always responding so quickly to my many questions.

A great big "THANK YOU" goes out to my wonderful assistant, Maggie, for sticking with the project to the end!  You are amazing!

Changing Things Up - Part III

I often times feel that I'm being pulled in many directions, and I know that being 60% adds to that feeling.  In all honesty, it's been a busy few month in my new position as District Library Media Specialist in the Deerfield Community School District. Since this past fall, we have tackled several big projects.  We converted both libraries from Alexandria to Destiny, we implemented weekly library centers at DES, and the reorganization project in our non-fiction/informational area of the DES library is 98% complete (for more info see Changing Things Up and Changing Things Up - Part II).  Lots of hard work and determination from the most amazing library assistant around (Maggie) is how the reorganization project made it from start to finish.   Maggie took charge of the project, asked questions when she had them, and saw it through to the end!

The reorganization has proven to be successful in a variety of ways.  In my opinion, two of the greatest being...
1.The kids love it, and as they become more familiar with the new book store model concept, they are digging into topics and books that they didn't even know existed.  There's always excitement in their voices as they share the newly discovered book treasures.
2. It has made us aware of areas in our collection that need to be developed.  For example, a group of students were browsing the shelves in the War area and asked why there wasn't a shelf-marker and books for the Vietnam War.  Ding, ding.....let's take a look at what Follett has to offer.

Changing Things Up - Part II

As mentioned in a previous post (Changing Things Up...) we are reorganizing our non-fiction/informational area of the DES library to be more like a book store, with books arranged by specific topics on the shelves based on high traffic areas and hot topics.

Making this change during the school year has been "interesting" but well worth it, even though we have only just begun.  In the past week, we (Maggie, Kelli, and our two high school helpers) cleared off the shelves where the 0.001 to 200.00 Dewey books use to be.  They weeded the animal books, which we decided would be the first books in this conversion,  to get rid of the extremely old, torn, beaten, and battered, and then started to move them over to the open shelves.  All the "Big Cat" books are together in an area labeled as such.  All the "Shark" books are together, etc, etc.  We then began to place colored dot stickers on the spines of the animal books (all animal books will have a red dot on the spine).  As the sections grew, it was time to start creating the blue shelf makers; each included the animal word (Big Cats) and also a picture of the animal.  This visual will be so helpful for our students.

This week, the 4th graders were the first to actually realize that all the caution tape and construction signs were not decorations left over from Halloween.  They discovered the new blue shelf markers and all of the animals books that had been relocated (there are still more animal books to be moved to this area).  The students were excited and one young lady exclaimed, " Hey, Scott, look at all the wolf books we have!"  The two kids dropped to their knees to grab a bunch of wolf  books they never knew we had!

Next up, when the animal section is done....science related books (insects, dinosaurs, rocks, minerals, etc...)

It's a process....one that will be well worth it in the end.  

A great big thank you to Maggie, Kelli, James, and Kyla!!!!

For more information about others who have made this change, here are a few resources...

Van Meyer Library Voice

School Library Journal October 2012

Scoop It! Dewey Free Library

Changing Things Up....

We've decided to change things up a bit in our non-fiction/informational section of the elementary library.  Yippeee!!  We're moving Dewey out and going to create more of a book store model, which will make it so much easier for our students and teachers to find what they are looking for.  Our inspiration came from following Shannon Miller's blog, Van Meter Library Voice, as she traveled through the process this past year.

Maggie and Kyla unloading boxes from DEMCO and Follett.

Our treasures from DEMCO include blue section dividers, labels,
label protectors, and lots of colored dot and star stickers.