APA Citation Paper

GENREFICATION: TO DEWEY OR NOT TO DEWEY 2

Genrefication: To Dewey or not to Dewey

“Shhhhhhh, you are in the library!” No longer are libraries the quiet, “no talking” place in

the school. Librarians want kids to talk about books! Not only is the atmosphere changing,

School library media specialists are moving from the age-old Dewey Decimal System to a more

kid friendly updated system. In 1876, Melvin Dewey created a system for organizing books that

assigned a designated number that corresponded to a book’s topic. It has been the universal

system for classifying books in every library for centuries. Library specialists today contend that

the system is flawed and outdated. Marrocolla (2019) in her article “The Trouble with Dewey”

states, “Dewey is in many ways an outdated mess. Racist and sexist, it classifies “women’s

work” separately from jobs, and African American culture separately from American culture” (p.

42). Fiction books within the system are arranged alphabetically by author last name and then

title. School librarians are interested in helping students find books that interest them and more

importantly, have students self-select, browse, and find books on their own. That is difficult to

do when books are arranged in the Dewey Decimal System.

School media specialists are now looking to shake things up in their libraries.

Genrefication is the new trend for classification. “Through current efforts at genrefication, the

act of organizing a library or section of a library by genres or topics, school librarians aim to

make their collections user-friendly and promote productive browsing by students” (Taylor et al.,

2019, p. 852). This means that if students like mystery books, they can find other mystery books

within the same section of the library.

Goals of School Media Specialists

The main goal of a school media specialist is to increase circulation of books in the

library. Increased circulation means that students are reading more books, and students who read

GENREFICATION: TO DEWEY OR NOT TO DEWEY 3

more books become better readers. The librarian’s desire then is to help students find books that

interest them so that they are more likely to continue reading. Taylor et al. (2019) says that “time

spent reading is one of the primary factors identified as improving reading ability, school

librarians strive to create collections that will engage their students and motivate them to read

more, more often and more widely” (p.853). If getting students to read more is the goal, then

making it easier for students to find interesting books is essential. This can be accomplished

through genrefication.

Disadvantages of Genrefication: To Dewey

Some critics argue that libraries should not change something that has served the public

well for years and continues to work. There are some disadvantages to changing the system.

Sometimes a specific book is harder to find if you know the title, but not the genre. You would

need to look up the genre to know in which section of the library it is located. Another

disadvantage is that some books cross genres or could be classified by more than one genre.

The biggest disadvantage is the number of hours it takes to change a library. Julia Smith,

the librarian at Kerikeri High School said she closed the library for three days and enlisted many

helpers. The books needed to be taken off the shelves, categorized into genres, relabeled, double

checked, scanned with the portable bar-code scanner, and then re-shelved. They also had to

reprogram the school digital library catalog to match the new method of shelving (Smith, 2015).

Other schools have taken the week after school lets out to do the project, and some have taken up

to a year to complete the transformation. After the change students and teachers need to be “re-

booted” and trained on the new classifications.

Advantages of Genrefication: Not to Dewey

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There are many advantages to organizing books by genre. It is the way most bookstores

classify their books because it entices customers to find and buy books in areas that they already

have an interest. In a traditionally organized library, a student who may not enjoy reading might

become frustrated when they cannot find a book they like. Browsing shelves can be

overwhelming for struggling readers. For students, having books in genres can be timesaving

because they can go directly to the shelves for the next dystopian novel without having to look

up titles and authors. From the librarian’s point of view, an advantage to arranging books by

genre is it lets them physically see where they may be lacking, and they can purchase books for

sparse areas (Witteveen, 2019, p. 42). Atwell (2015) in her book In the Middle says, “Student

choice is synonymous with student engagement in both writing and reading” (2015, p.21). The

biggest advantage is that students can browse and self-select books for whatever mood they are

in. A school in New York City had great success with their new genrefied system and reported

“increased circulation between 100-300%, depending upon sections” (Snipes, 2015, p.20). If the

goal of the library is to increase the number of books read by students, then making the library

more user friendly through genrefication seems to be the way to go.

Conclusion

Although the Dewey Decimal System has its shortcomings, it is the basic framework for

organizing books. The change to genrefication can be a time-consuming process, but media

specialists contend that it is easier for young readers to find books they enjoy, and circulation has

increased. Soon, the shift to genrefication will become the norm and the Dewey Decimal System,

which has served us well, will get a much-needed makeover. The nice thing about genrefication

is that if it does not work, it is reversible!

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References

Atwell, N. (2015). In the Middle; A Lifetime of Learning about Writing, Reading and

Adolescents (3rd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Marrocolla, E. G. (2019). The trouble with Dewey. School Library Journal, September, 42.

Smith, J. (2015). Genrefication? A Chronicle of one High School's Experience. Collected

Magazine, 14

Snipes, P. R. (2015, March). Dewey's destiny: Actions in the field. School Library Monthly,

31(5), 18-20.

Taylor, J. B., Hora, A, & Krueger K. S. (2019). Self-selecting books in a children's fiction

collection arranged by genre. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 852-

865.

Witteveen, A. (2019). Flipping Genrefication. School Library Journal, September, 40-44.