Help with fiction call numbers: Imagining yourself as an author

Students often ask me if we carry books by a particular author they are looking for.  This could be any one of a large number of popular authors such as Judy Blume, Roald Dahl, Cynthia Rylant, or even someone more obscure.  But, all too often it seems that students are unaware that the answer to their "Do you have any books by _______?" question is literally right under their noses.  I want students to feel empowered so that they can explore and discover books that they are interested in.  Helping them understand call numbers (be it because they located a book in the catalogue first or because they have a particular author in mind) helps them do just that.  However, some elementary students really struggle with the concept of searching for books using an author’s last name.  Some had even thought that the letters on the fiction shelves were meant to mark book titles or to even indicate different reading levels (like Fountas and Pinnell).  I wanted to give them more practice.  

Today, I thought of a fun, quick way today to help students in grades three to five conceptualize and practice searching for books based on authors' last names.  I had them close their eyes and imagine themselves as authors one day in the not-too-distant future, authors of books that other students will want to read.  I could see some students enjoyed this daydream. :)

After opening their eyes, I asked third-graders to say their last names to a partner, and also what the first letter of their last name was.  Students then moved around in pairs to help each other find the shelf where their books would be.  They were very excited!  

Most of them did well, but of course some needed help.  We have a lot of ESL learners and sometimes the letters are hard, especially for those who are newer to the language (this actually makes me think that I should put up an alphabet chart somewhere in my library).  Therefore, deciding where G might go, out the following sequences A-D, E-K, L-Q, and R-Z, is not as easy as it might appear.  This is an important skill that will need more practice (Note: this task would be equally difficult if real authors were being used also).  

In fourth and fifth grade we started out in a similar way, but I had kids try to find their aisles individually.  Once they found these, I then asked students to go a step further by pinpointing the exact location of where their book(s) would be in the aisle. I had them put their finger in that spot while I came around and checked.  Some students were absolutely thrilled to see that they shared the same call letter combination as authors already out there, quickly generating interest for them in who those people were too.  

This was an activity that got kids moving and filled them with pride since they could visualize their future spot as an author in the library.  It also made the concept of call numbers more concrete, and generated some excitement and understanding about looking for books based on authors’ last names.  We will be practicing this again of course with real authors now, but it was a fun, quick introduction to get them thinking about how books are arranged in the library.

In addition to library orientation and tours, we've been using color coding in the library to help students keep track of the section they are in.