Genre Allocations (for labels)

Fortunately, I have done this in two previous schools, but I am working through the fiction collection in my current school to determine genres for each fiction item.

In 2018, I did an entry on this topic.

I have decided to do it because the fiction books don't have genre labels at all, and have felt that it has stopped students from selecting books that they wish to read. I was told it had been based on the need for students to be able to locate and select books independently. Having labels was seen as an "impediment".

Unlike in 2018 at the school in question at the time, I have seen here that there is an even greater need for it. Students have indicated that they don't know if a book belongs to a particular genre. I observed it recently with Year 8 English classes visiting the library to borrow fantasy books - Several students asked me to find out if it was a Fantasy book or not, searching for it on OLIVER. This was time-consuming.

Do I still hold the same views in 2023 from what I wrote in 2018 - yes.

Also, there are no labels for the Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) featured, whether its on the spine or inside the cover, causing more difficulty for those participating in PRC. 

Am I doing this with formal genrefication in mind - I will explore it but that will come later. 

Schools Catalogue Information Service

To date, I have not posted about Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS).

In recent times, I have had to rely on it to have a number of older items in the library collection catalogued. Generally, they have made it easier for us as school library staff to catalogue items by virtually ending our need to manually catalogue an item. 

I have had to search their catalogue to determine if they have data for the resource, then transfer either the SCIS ID or ISBN into the data entry in the catalogue (Available on OLIVER), then either enhance or overwrite the existing data. 

If it has not been listed, then I place a request with SCIS. 

I am impressed by the service that allows us to photograph key sections containing information about a book such as the cover page, copyright details page etc, fill in key details and forward onto SCIS. The book does not physically have to be sent unless SCIS request it. 

Whether the book was published yesterday or many years ago, don't worry about having to catalogue it yourself. It does take a little time to take photos or scan the pages you need and fill in the online form, but it will save hassles later.

Also over time, if SCIS updates details and the data was obtained through SCIS, it will update it on your catalogue.