Sports Section Makeover

Since the winter break I have been focused on updating the non-fiction area of our library to make it easier for students to access the books they want in a quick, independent and efficient manner. I wrote about the first part of the process in this blog post.

IMG_0110

Last week I finished the Sports Section. My library assistant changed the call numbers on the books and in the system and I worked on the re-design of the shelves.  To make space, I weeded, weeded and weeded some more. If a book was published before 2000, it had to have a really good reason to be kept on the shelf. Otherwise, it got the heave-ho to the weeding pile. The extensive weeding gave me four shelves to use for our new Sports Section.

IMG_8855

All call numbers have the Dewey number 796 and then the three letters following that are the actual sport.  796 BAL for Ballet  796 FOO for Football books. I used dividers I purchased from Demco and made labels for each sport. The bottom shelf got tricky as the dividers don’t work there. Instead we found old VCR plastic boxes, wrapped them in some paper and added the label on the outside. It’s not perfect, but until I figure out a better way, it works for now.

IMG_8857

If you look closely you may find a few books that don’t have the new call number label yet. Instead of waiting, we moved forward and will catch up this week on the few remaining titles.

The student reaction proved immediately that the work was worth the trouble.

IMG_8854

One girl exclaimed, “I didn’t know we had camping books! My family loves to go camping!” The camping books are checked out and have gone home with a happy student.

The labeling system worked well with my young, intermediate and ESL students. The clipart and the sport clearly indicate each sub-section of sports books. I also found holes in my collection. We have a LOT of baseball books, but absolutely no track and field books. I don’t think I would have easily figured that out without this system in place.

Of course, this is a work in progress. We need to go back to the land mammals and finish that up. I had the chance to visit the library in Budapest that I based the system on. I’ll be writing more about that in an upcoming post.

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

2 thoughts on “Sports Section Makeover

  1. Dear Mrs Hembree,

    G’day I really loved how you have set out your sections of books in your library. I am sure this will be a fun way of finding a certain book you need to find in a hurry.
    I remember when I needed a certain book from the library I had to got to a cabinet and find a card which would direct me in the direction I needed to go sadly nine times out of ten I ended up with the wrong book.
    Your library is looking awesome and I some how get the feeling your students would love visiting you.

    Take care.
    From your fan down under,
    AA

    • Dear AA,
      So absolutely fabulous to read your comment! I love how you visit when you have time and still keep in touch!
      Yes, I remember the card catalog system too. It never seemed very easy to use. Now the students can use the computer or quickly go to the shelves that interest them. I think it’s a system that is working well for us.
      Stay warm in the fall! Hello to BB as well,
      Your WA friend,
      Mrs. Hembree

Leave a Reply to Mrs. Hembree Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *