Y Books

We have hundreds of books for our youngest readers too, which are our pre-school and kindergarten students.  Some of these books are hardbound, but most of them are paperback.  We encourage students to take these books out since many of them have just started to handle library books, and are learning how to take care of them, to bring them back, etc.

Last year, these books stayed in boxes, and each week kids could take out books from a particular box.  This did not give them full access to the collection and did not mirror what older students do.  Another huge problem was that parents, teachers, and librarians had to search through hundreds of books if they were looking for something in particular.  

I think it is fun for students to pick books directly from the shelves if they want, so this year we used some of our shelves to create a special area just for them.  Some of our younger students find choosing books from the shelves to be overwhelming, so we also lay a few books out on the floor for kids to choose from if they prefer to do it that way.  It is another way to differentiate. 

These books until now have been labeled as “E,” grouped in with what was until recently the same call letter for our picture books.  Now that we will be using the call letter “E” for a brand new section - “Emerging Readers,” and renaming the picture books as "P," we have to give these books a new call letter as well.  They are in their own distinct section of the library, and people need to know where to go if they look up these books in the card catalogue.  Until recently, people have looked up these books, and gone to the "E" section of the library since they carry that call letter, only to find that they are not there.  We have decided to call these books "Y" books in honor of our "Younger Readers."

We have been making labels in Microsoft Word and printing them out in color.  I love how they look, and we never have to worry about running out of a particular color because we can just print more.  We attach these to the spine with spine label adhesive tape.  

This section sees a lot of movement, with kids pulling them off the shelves and sticking them back anywhere nearby repeatedly.  At this age, we do not want kids to be concerned with call numbers of course (some of them can’t even count or say their alphabet yet), but rather just to love coming to the library and developing a love for books.  As a library staff we wanted to develop a system that allowed for this age group to choose books at will, but also allowed us to keep them organized enough so we could find books quickly.  We didn’t want the standard practice of call numbers and letters to be the way we organized this section, since this would not help this age group very much and because it would be a shelving nightmare.  After much thinking, we came up with a system that we really like and are enjoying.  We have broken the books up, 50 at a time, into different color groups.  We now have call numbers that say "Y Red," "Y Brown," "Y Yellow," and so on in the card catalogue.  As mentioned, before students, parents, teachers, and librarians had to go through hundreds of books (over 750) to find a book, but now they only have to look among the small section of the shelf that has that color (about 50 books).  We are able to find a book now in less than a minute. :)   

Our young readers love the color bands and the freedom they have to take books at will off the shelves.  Our parents and teachers love the ease of locating a book.  Our librarians love all of the above, as well as how easy the books are to shelve.