Organizing the library by Dewey Decimals

An article was just posted in School Library Journal, "Are Dewey's Days Numbered?" one of many recently stating that they were doing away with the Dewey Decimal system to mirror a bookstore organization by subject, saying "we felt as if our library was focused on finding materials rather than actually using them."  Whenever I see these articles I think again about our library's organization and if it is meeting the needs of staff and students.  The interesting point to ponder, I think, is not necessarily whether this reorganization helps circulation and reduces student frustration, but does it help our students to think about how they search for information?

We want to teach inquiry and critical thinking skills and foster an appreciation of literature, as well as a love of books and libraries in general.  I feel that teaching students how to locate books using a system teaches the skill of finding information.  "Locate and access" is the third step in our Big6 approach to information literacy teaching.  If we make it easy to find books in the library, will students understand that sometimes they have to work hard to search Google or a database for the right website or article that answers their question?  An OPAC search is another opportunity to teach how to identify and answer their information needs.

It's not as if the books in our library are hidden away so no one can find them.  First of all, there are only 10,000 of them, which sounds like a lot, but 7,000 are Everybody and Fiction books, so that leaves 3.000 nonfiction books on about 60 shelves.  Students who want books about cars search for "cars" in the OPAC and find them on the shelf in the 629s.  I remind them that they know how to count to 999, which gives them the ability to find the book numerically.  Students who are too young to search the OPAC or count to 999 ask me where to find the books and then help each other when someone else has the same information need. I usually add a little information as we are looking (as short as ten seconds) showing them that similar subjects are grouped together with the book they are seeking, or pointing out the spine label.  Over seven years of mini lessons I hope I impart little bits of wisdom that add to the lessons we do about library organization and the OPAC.

I don't teach the Dewey Decimal System as separate lessons, in fact I barely mention Melvil Dewey, the creator of this admittedly imperfect system, at all.  Trying to fit everything perfectly into a system based on tens is impossible, but libraries need a common system so people can transfer skills and find information in any library.  People use numerical systems around the world, including money, weights and measures, etc., to provide a common language and understanding of relationships.

My students learn that Dewey is a numerical system for grouping like books together.  For example, all the big cat books can be found on the same shelf, so you can find books on lions, tigers and cheetahs all nearby.  This system can be searched online, but the numbers are for putting similar books together, and gives us an address for the book to easily find it and similar books on the shelf.

The article mentions that it would be difficult for a student to find a paper craft book and a sewing book together, because in Dewey they would be in different hundreds sections.  The limitation of Dewey and every system for organizing books is that you can't put every book that relates to another book together.  It is not three-dimensional.  The computer allows us to bring similar books together electronically that can't be physically together.  If you search "crafts" as a subject heading, you will find all those craft-related books, even if they aren't on the same shelf.  If we can't put all the books together on one shelf so we can browse easily, the computerized virtual version of the books can do this for us if we can search keywords and understand the results.  That is the focus of my teaching, to teach the searching skills and how to evaluate those results.

As long as my library mirrors other libraries, public and academic, in having a similar numerical order, my students will be able to use any library easily.  And they understand that if they have an information need, they know how to search for the answer to that need and how to locate information to answer their questions.  The "locate and access" step is one that eventually doesn't take much thought if students have practiced it in a variety of situations, and using the OPAC and Dewey Decimal System in my library give them that opportunity at least once a week for seven years.

Normal library classes!

I told a class today that we were finally having normal library classes after a week of expectations and teaching about the Ridgecrest Way (PBIS), then a week of SRI testing, but there really are no normal library classes.  I think I meant that we could do what I wanted us to do, whether it was reading stories and discussing them, learning how to use programs, or just having time to talk about the books we have been reading.

This week I am teaching some classes how to access the Scholastic Reading Counts quiz program.  Some teachers use it to help monitor independent reading, but over the past six or seven years we have slowly decreased our dependence on computerized testing when evaluating independent reading.  I'm proud that our teachers take the time to get to know their kids and help them set reasonable goals (not always point-based, but based on other factors, such as how many books they might be able to read in a trimester, individualized).  But I'm most proud that our teachers have found alternate ways to monitor their students' reading, allowing them multiple ways to show that they read and understood a selection of books, not every book they read, but a selection, as a formative assessment.

We have talked a lot about formative assessments in our pre-school building meetings, and I think we are all speaking the same language now when it comes to this type of assessment.  Being able to see AR/SRC quizzes as one type of formative assessment reduces the impulse to use it exclusively as an independent reading measure, and decreases the chance that teachers will want students to take quizzes on every single book they read.

I read many articles and books about student motivation this summer, hoping to find a way to reach every student and help them to be better readers, and one idea stuck with me all summer:  Think about how we read and discuss books as adults.  We don't take a quiz after we finish reading a book, we find other people who have read it or who are interested in that book or author or subject, and we discuss what we have read.  We recommend books to each other, we talk about what made us sad or happy or scared, and what other connections we made with the characters, settings, plot points, etc.  This is how we expect our students will interact with books and people as adults, so let's encourage them to interact this way as students.  Knowing whether or not they comprehend their reading is a key part of knowing if they are effective independent readers, but how we measure that is flexible and formative, not never-ending and summative.

I look forward to seeing how teachers use Reading Counts this year, and how we can help each other find even more ways to know how our students are choosing and reading books.

SRI-ing

For all classes in grades 2 through 6, this week is the first round of the SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory), which is taken during library class time.  This online reading assessment gives students and teachers a Lexile score at the end, which is used to help find books that are a good fit for comprehension activities, particularly in the classroom.  Some teachers use the Lexile to help place students into small group novel studies with students at similar Lexile levels, particularly if the novel is in a subject area such as social studies, where comprehension of key points is essential to learning.

Students are taught that their Lexile gives them a range, it is not a specific number at which they must read.  The library is not labeled with Lexile numbers for books, though it may be eventually.  Student choice is still the main focus of library checkout, understanding that having choices is highly motivating to students.

Kindergarten and 1st grade classes will be hearing back to school stories, some set in the library, some not.  "Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten?" is a hilarious story of a buffalo who goes to school with his owner, but has some difficulties fitting in.  He can't use the scissors, his hooves are too big.  He wants to eat grass for lunch, and he's not very good at playing hide and seek.  However, it turns out that he can fit in, even if he is a little bit different.

We also will read "Walter's Magic Wand," where Walter uses his imagination and his wand to make the books at the library come true.   Afterwards he thinks he made up the pirates, and the ocean and the librarian saving everyone by building an ark out of bookshelves, but then the librarian gives him a wink and he's not quite so sure what's real any more.

A mix of getting important testing done, reading stories, and making sure everyone gets to check out the books they want to read, a great week is ahead!

Welcome back!

The library has been so quiet in the days leading up to the first day of school.  It is a great chance to catch up on projects, connect with teachers, and think strategically about the school year coming up.  Then the bell rings on the first day and with the students rushing through the front doors comes the energy that's been dormant for two months.

I love having regeneration time during the summer, when I can think about my teaching, how to improve it, and how to connect with students.  It's valuable to me as a constantly learning and growing teacher.  But when the students walk through the door, it's a reminder that they are why we are striving to be better teachers all the time.  I am grateful for the encouragement they give me to be better, just by walking into the library and asking me, "What was the best book you read this summer?"  I need to have an answer for them and then I need to be able to help 520+ students try to find the best book for them this first week of school.

I also take time during the summer to read more books about what I do and to play with new technology and tools I want to try with students this year.

I read a book called "The Book Whisperer" by Donalyn Miller, who writes a blog by the same name, trying to unlock that age-old mystery of how to get every student motivated to read.  The answer for me, this year, is choice.  Giving students more choice about what they read, not forcing them to take a test every time they finish a book, but offering many ways for them to connect with other students and teachers over these books.  As Walter Dean Myers says, reading is not optional.  We know that students who like to read read more, and those who don't, read less and less, creating a gap between students that widens each year.  And reading is essential to who they will become.  So my focus is to try to connect with every student and find out what motivates them.  Not an easy task with over 500 students, but that is my goal.

One technology tool I played around with this summer is Animoto, where you import photos and then choose a theme and music and it creates a video for you.  Often flashy, always well designed and professional looking, I think there are a lot of uses in schools for this tool.  I want to work with 5th and 6th graders to create book trailers later in the year.

So, forgive the repetitive loud music, but I felt it was a way to start up the year in an upbeat way.  Here is my introduction to the Ridgecrest library Animoto video, highlighting some important ideas.  I thought they would enjoy hearing and seeing it in a way that didn't involve me standing up in front of them and talking.

I can't wait to learn even more from our students and staff this year, and use what I have been thinking about and learning about all summer to make this school year the best one yet for all of us.