I would like to share with you some of my experiences over the years, hoping to inspire others:)Original address:Hongniba recommends a simple shelving method and extension for children’s booksauthor:Hongniba Village
The shelving method recommended here is mainly for reference in school reading rooms, libraries, and rural libraries that mainly store children’s books.
(1) Basic ideas for shelving
According to Red Mud’s experience, children’s books can be loosely divided into four categories (Note: The classification here is based on the needs of shelving and has nothing to do with the book classification of the Red Mud website or the Chinese Library Classification):
Class I
Picture books — an expanded concept, including picture books, comic strips, cartoons, children’s picture stories, story books with text and pictures, etc. in the usual classification. As long as the administrator intuitively feels that the composition of the book focuses on pictures, it can be classified into this category. For example, art albums can also be included (of course, they can also be classified into other categories).
Class II
Children’s literature is also a relatively broad concept, including children’s literature works that are commonly understood, as well as literary works that are considered suitable for children to read, such as “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” and “Wolf Totem”.
Category III
Knowledge category — also known as non-fiction category, including what we often call popular science, encyclopedias, social sciences, etc.; knowledge picture books can be classified into this category first.
Category IV
Others — Books other than the above three categories are grouped into one category.
Categorizing specific books is often difficult, and any classification method inevitably overlaps and overlaps. In school libraries, where the goal is to maximize children’s borrowing, classification needs to be as intuitive and simplified as possible. Its effectiveness depends primarily on whether it is easy for children to browse and borrow, and also on ease of management for non-professionals, as the daily management of such libraries often relies on the help of adult or student volunteers.
The shelving of books is very important. They must be easy to find and easy to manage.
Administrators can roughly follow this order: four major categories — publishing houses — book series, series — book titles (same author first). Roughly follow the following order and principles:
1. Consider the category of the books first and put similar books together;
2. Consider publishers first among the same category and put books from the same publisher together;
3. For books from the same publisher, first consider whether they belong to the same series or series. Books from the same series should be grouped together, and individual books should be grouped separately.
4. When placing a series of books or a row of books that are not in a series, try to arrange them in alphabetical order of the book titles.
5. If there are multiple books by the same author in the same series or series, they can be grouped together first and then sorted by the pinyin of the book title.
6. The order of placing books on the bookshelf: first top then bottom, first left then right.
Following this principle, administrators can also guide other teachers, students or volunteers to help organize the books.
The explanation and demonstration of the rules can be simplified according to the target audience. For example, if you are teaching a fourth or fifth grader, you can teach them how to use the rules in about 20 minutes. After they have become more proficient in the operation for a while, you can further refine the instructions.
The above method is basically feasible for libraries with a collection of less than 500 suitable reading materials. When the collection increases to more than 1,000 books, more skilled administrators (or volunteers) may be needed, but more intuitive color blocks can also be considered as an aid.
(2) Color block auxiliary method
The most difficult part of basic shelving is distinguishing between major categories. The subsequent steps are very simple and can be learned quickly. So when you first put books on the shelf, you can use color blocks on the spines to distinguish them. When you put them back on the shelf later, you don’t need to worry about the major categories. The corresponding relationship between color blocks and major categories is suggested as follows:
Class I red
Type II blue
Class III yellow
Category IV Green
The color-block-assisted method is sufficient for libraries with a collection of less than 2,000 to 3,000 books. However, as the collection grows and the collection is not limited to one location within the same institution, a more complex system and software management may be needed.
(3) Principles and ideas of the Hongniba recommended racking method
The shelving method recommended by Hongniba is a more standardized system based on the aforementioned shelving ideas and color block auxiliary method, and can be regarded as an upgraded version.
Hongniba has been involved in promoting children’s literature since 2001, officially recommending and selling children’s books since 2002, and partnering with NGOs like Smile Library in recommending and distributing books to rural school libraries since 2003. Since 2007, we’ve been directly involved in school-wide reading promotion experiments. Throughout this process, we’ve been exploring the rationale for campus library management. Many key factors need to be considered, such as the readability of the books, the accessible display, standardized management, ease of management, resource availability, administrator expertise, reader accessibility, teacher engagement, and volunteer participation. We tend to strike the right balance—ideally, achieving balanced development across all aspects. Therefore, we believe there’s no such thing as the best management approach; only the one that best suits the school’s specific circumstances, the approach that best suits the resources and staff available, and that serves the greatest number of people as best as possible.
Based on the above principles, the racking method recommended by Hongniba is definitely not the so-called “best” method. Its value mainly provides a management idea that may be worth referring to. I hope it can provide some inspiration for everyone. The following are some of the most basic ideas:
1. Generate Shelf Numbers: The aforementioned shelving ideas and color block assistance are intuitive. However, if you want to manage the shelves systematically and with software support, numbering is essential. The basic principle of numbering is also very simple. A complete numbering consists of four parts: shelf category number.
Publishing company number. Series name/author name sequence.
2. Expanded Shelf Classification: Standardized management of primary and secondary school libraries requires the use of the China Library Classification for document classification. To ensure seamless integration, the expanded shelving classification system also references the China Library Classification for its main components. However, it addresses issues related to insufficient consideration of the subcategories of picture books and children’s literature within children’s books. For example, a separate “picture books” category has been established, while the subcategories of children’s literature are primarily based on the relevant categories on the Red Mud website.
3. Preserve color blocks as an aid: For children, intuitive color blocks are still very helpful. In the Red Mud recommended shelving method, color blocks are divided into large sections. For example, the yellow section includes philosophy, social sciences, natural encyclopedias, technology, military, culture and education, and other categories. The red section is for picture books in children’s literature, the blue section is for text books in children’s literature, and the green section is for other categories.
4. Fixed shelf numbers, flexible display: Hongniba recommends fixed shelf numbers, which saves administrators from having to repeatedly think about how to shelve a book. Bookshelves are flexible; simply attaching a shelf number allows for definition and flexible expansion.
If you want to check the Hongniba recommended shelf number of a book, you can visit the OPAC system of the Hongniba Digital Platform Library and log in as a guest:
http://www.hongniba.com.cn/dp2opac/