[Michlib-l] shelving/labeling series books

[Teresa Stannard]

Karyn:

We are a Class III library serving a population of 10,000.  Several years ago we decided to label our series books (children, teen, tween and adult).  It was a very big job, but well worth the effort.  We made our patrons very happy! We still get compliments, in fact.  It also helps us spot gaps in a series very easily.  

To answer your questions:
-We didn't label all books that were part of a series, esp. if the series was small and discontinued or if we only had a couple of titles in the series.  (Reviewing the collection for series books turned out to be a very useful tool for weeding!)
-We have a master list to track all the series for which we create special labels.
-We use a consistent style for all labels - in black ink.
-The adult and teen labels list the author's name, followed by the series name, followed by the number of the book in the series.
-The children's and tween labels use the series name only, followed by the number of the book in the series.  We find that most young readers remember the series name rather than the author.
-For a single author, we shelve the books in series first, followed by any non-series books in title order.  If an author has multiple series, we shelve each series in alphabetical order by the series name.
-If a book is part of a series but we haven't given it a special series label, it is shelved in order by title. (Yes, even if the publisher printed the series number on the spine.) Only books that have special series labels are shelved in series order.

I've attached a photo of two Adult shelves with James Patterson titles.  You'll see a couple of his series (with each series grouped in alphabetical order, i.e. "Private" followed by "Women's Club") followed by his stand-alone, non-series titles filed in alphabetical order by title.

I also attached a photo of one of our Tween shelves.  You'll see books in series shelved using the series name (rather than the author) interfiled alphabetically with non-series books (using the author's name).

This system is working well for us.  Let me know if I can help you further.  Best wishes on your project!

Teresa

Teresa Stannard, Library Director

401 S Riverview Dr., Parchment  MI 49004
Phone: 269-343-7747 ext 203
Library Hours: M-Th 10-8; F 10-6; Sat 10-4
URL: parchmentlibrary.org

-----Original Message-----
From: michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org [mailto:michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org] On Behalf Of Karyn Ruley via Michlib-l
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 11:34 AM
To: michlib-l at mcls.org
Subject: [Michlib-l] shelving/labeling series books

We are considering labeling all of our series books and were wondering how other libraries handle this process, if at all. We've labeled our sci-fi and Christian sections already and have attempted to use different font colors and label colors per series, but have found it's not always easy to go back and match those colors when books are added to a series.

Do you label series books?
If so, do you change the style per series or keep them consistent?
Have you found a simple process or was the project too much trouble?
Do you bother labeling books when you only have one or two in a series?
Are those single books shelved as if in a series?
Did labeling help your patrons to more easily find materials?

I know this is asking a lot. Any experience/ideas would be helpful to us.


Karyn Ruley
Technology Associate

Crawford County Library
201 Plum St.
Grayling, MI
49738
Phone: 989-348-9214
Fax: 989-348-9294



_______________________________________________
Michlib-l mailing list
Michlib-l at mcls.org
http://mail2.mcls.org/mailman/listinfo/michlib-l


--
This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by E.F.A. Project, and is believed to be clean.

Click here to report this message as spam.
http://mailproxy.parchmentlibrary.org/cgi-bin/learn-msg.cgi?id=5D790100065.A4DFF&token=f0f3e9f9256843fead702b76a3de87ae

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Adult shelf.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 120575 bytes
Desc: Adult shelf.jpg
URL: <http://mail3.mcls.org/pipermail/michlib-l/attachments/20190212/3818b517/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Tween shelf.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 109249 bytes
Desc: Tween shelf.jpg
URL: <http://mail3.mcls.org/pipermail/michlib-l/attachments/20190212/3818b517/attachment-0001.jpg>