The Work has started...

I had been working earlier this week to group my non-fiction books into the categories that I am thinking about using for the new sections in my library. As I have moved along this week, I encountered a  dilemma when I was working towards Ditching Dewey. I had a moment (okay, actually a day or so) where I found that I worried about whether I should actually do away with my Dewey Decimal System. 


My reasons for changing my library include the students ease of use and to have the students check out and be able to find more materials. But as I was working through the 500 section of my shelves, I was having my doubts. They first started when I was working with the animals. I have decided to divide my animal books into two sections, Land and Water. As I was going through the many, many animal books, I was wondering if this was really necessary. I mean except for pets, all the animals are organized right there in the 500s. SO, why am I re-doing all of my sections? I finished dividing the animals and logging them into the computer (so I can change their call numbers) and pondered this thought for the next day and a half. 


Luckily, Friday night, I was at a retirement dinner and had the chance to discuss my worries with my friend and school's Reading Specialist who not only is a great supporter of my library program, but also has a very good understanding of children's literature and what they like to read. She reminded me why I was Ditching Dewey, and the quick two minute discussion we had reaffirmed my commitment to the new system. 


So, today I started back to my reorganization. I worked through the rest of the 500s and all the way through the lower numbers. I ended up adding a section to the shelving system; Jobs. I did come across a group of books that I don't know what to do with, I will research different categories and see where they might go, but for now they are in a pile on one of my shelves (luckily school is now closed for the summer and I have a few months to do all this work). I did come across a problem as I was working today. one of my sections is going to be "Tales". This section will include, Fairy, Tall and Folk 

Tales as well as Legends, Myths and Fables. My problem was that as I separated the books into these sub categories,  I found that I had so many Folk Tale books that I thought I should weed them. As I started looking to weed them, I couldn't decide which ones to get rid of. Many of them are newer and others that relate to our curriculum, that I didn't know what to do. My decision was to go on to another section and come back to this weeding thought later. My final decision on them was to just have a larger "Tales" section than I was planning and to keep most of the books.


At the end of the day, I had completed categorizing most of the non-fiction books that I have and I am getting ready to go after the Biographies, which I am going to shelve along side the non-fiction books in the new sections. 


Of course now that Summer Vacation has started, I will not be working everyday. My next day in the Library will be after the 4th of July, but I will be working on changing my call numbers for the card catalog and checkout system, as I can do that from home. 


Please keep following along as I chronicle my work away from Dewey.