Call number signage

Now that we have repositioned our shelves and moved books to their new locations, it is time to create our call number signage.  Many of the bookshelves do not have call number signage, especially in non-fiction, so the addition of signage is sure to be met with a lot of welcome!  We want to help our patrons become comfortable in their search for information, so they need to be able to find resources on the shelves once they have found a book of interest in the computer.  If they find a chapter book with the call number JF (junior fiction), but do not know where the JF books are, then it will be harder for them to find the book for instance.

Elementary non-fiction (ENF) in red

I created signs today for three sections ENF (Elementary Non-Fiction), JF (Junior Fiction), and E (Easy) books.  I color coded them so that we can also refer to the sections by color.  I'm even thinking of painting the shelves in the future for this purpose - to make sections even more clear and as a way to add more color to the library.  The ENF sign is done in red, JF in light blue, and E in purple.  I specifically did not choose red and green at the same time for signs because patrons who experience color-blindness often get these colors confused.  The signs are big (easier to spot) and posted on each row of shelves.  I laminated them to be more durable and to look more professional.  Under the section signs, I put Dewey Decimal numbers for the ENF books and letters to mark author names in the JF and E sections.  This way, patrons will know what books are in each aisle. 

This also makes shelving much more easy for me and my staff of course.

Junior Fiction (JF) in blue

Because we are an elementary library and some of the kids are still learning their letters or have trouble finding books, we have decided to make sure that letters are not split from row to row in the JF and E sections.  For example our rows now say in JF: A-D, E-K, L-Q, R-Z and E: A-G, H-M, N-U, and V-Z (I wouldn't want the books to end up saying A-Da and De-K).

Everybody (E) in purple

On a side note, we will not be refering to E books anymore as "Easy."  We are going to be calling them "E" for "Everybody."  This is because some kids, whether they be lower skilled readers or ESL students, might not find these books so easy.  We don't want students to feel bad if books end up being difficult when they are supposedly easy.  Books in this section tend to be more picture books, something enjoyed by a variety of ages, so that is why "Everybody" is a great word for this section and allows us to keep the letter "E." 

As we change the library around to make it as user-friendly as possible, ideas for additional sections have come.  As those sections are created, we will have additional signage and colors to make things easy to find.