On Friday I decided to find out how many fiction books had been checked out of the library since school started a little less than 3 months ago. I knew that the numbers would be good. You can tell. And I was right! I'm not sure of our population but I think it is between 250 to 300. I will have to check on that Monday. Whatever the number, we have circulated 622 fiction books. If we have 300 students, that would be just over 2 books per student.
Next I decided to check on the same time period in 2008 and 2009. I started in the August of 2009 but hadn't had the opportunity to sort through the fiction collection and start buying new paperbacks. In that year, 166 books were checked out for the same time period. Now I was really curious. How many had gone out in those months in the year before I started: 196.
I sent the statistics to my head of school and he asked the obvious question. Why had there such a dramatic increase? The answer has been partially answered in the previous paragraph. I was new to the library and so, I had just begun to understand the needs of the students and to weed the collection. However, there is more to it than that.
The collection I inherited was for the large part hardcover and all the books were stored on shelves which went around the walls of the fiction section. Because of the type of shelving and some overcrowding, there was no way of displaying the front covers of the books, other than by removing the covers and putting them on a bulletin board. Unfortunately, there were no bulletin boards in the fiction area so that was not in fact a possibility.
I started by buying paperback spinners and pulling out books from the collection, which would fit on them. There were a number of permabound books so I manage to sparsely fill the spinners. Next, I weeded those hardbacks left on the shelves to gain some room to pull books with exciting covers out and display them on the shelves. Yes, we know that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover but students do (and to an extent, so do I if I'm honest). I've done three more weedings since then and we are now down to a very compact hardcover collection.
Once I started to understand what kind of books my students were interested in, I started to buy new paperback fiction. Some I bought on the recommendation of the students, others from lists of suggested titles and finally, last Easter I spent the day at Blackwell's in Oxford and bought a £1000 worth of new titles. We were off! And we've never looked back!
I have spent a lot of time pouring over catalogues and looking at how bookstores display their stock. I've bought Plexiglas display units for some of the hardcover shelves and also to go on the top of lower shelving. These allow me to display hardcover books with their covers revealed to the patrons.
I move my stock continually so that students always see new books on display. I also move the books around on the spinners so that books which have been at the back are moved to the front. Finally, though not really since I am always looking for new ideas, I have made room for 3 bulletin boards which I use to advertise new books, genres, authors, or just books I think might be of interest.
One of my favorite displays last year was of a group of hardcover books, which had never been taken out of the library. They were my 'lonely hearts' books, looking for someone who shared the same interests. Each one had a stick coming out of the top with a note attached (pictures to follow!). For example: Lonely book seeks lover of adventure, danger and mystery. Guarantees a good time!
I have just started on this journey to help my students discover that books can be exciting. In the process, they have introduced me to so many authors and genres I had never encountered before. The journey continues and I shall continue to chronicle it.
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