Monday, June 11, 2012

Top Ten: Books in the Dewey section

I know lots of librarians are re-thinking their use of Dewey to organize books. For us, Dewey still works well, maybe because we use visual signs to help students find the areas they are interested in. We're also starting to use shorter Dewey numbers to make it easier for youngsters to "read" the shelves. 


Sections that see heavy use are machines, dinosaurs, the Titanic, and Crafts. And when a class is studying a particular topic, that section sees lots of action: Solar System? Insects? Rocks and Fossils? 


Still, our top ten titles don't reflect this. It makes it look like our students only take Guinness Book of World Records books! Not so! Our students DO read lots of "quality" nonfiction and fairy tales. But nothing beats Guinness for creating a stir and a buzz and turning lots of students on to the idea of reading and sharing information with friends.


So, love 'em or hate 'em...Guinness is here to stay.


Top Ten Dewey Books

#10 is a three-way tie:
Guinness Book of World Records, 2004
Lost Boy: The Story of the Man Who Created Peter Pan
Dactyls: Dragons of the Air

#9 - The LEGO Book

#8 - Guinness Book of World Records, 2007

#7 - A Dazzling Display of Dogs: Concrete Poems

#6 - Guinness Book of World Records, 2002

#5 - Star Wars, The Clone Wars: Jedi Heroes

#4 - Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum

#3 - Guinness Book of World Records, 2008

#2 - Guinness Book of World Records, 2009

and, the most popular book in the Dewey section was...

#1 - Tentacles: Tales of the Giant Squid
(illustrator Bryn Barnard visited us in the fall)


Stay tuned for our top ten Chapter Books!



4 comments:

  1. What are your shelf dividers made of? They look great and I'm looking for a good fit for our library!

    Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Hi, thanks for the comment. We used hard cardboard and then covered each piece with the sign printed on plain paper.

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  2. Hi! Love the Dewey signs! Is there any way you would share these with me or post them on TPT? My email is tonya_nc at yahoo . com. Thanks!

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  3. Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately, I don't have those files anymore. This is from my old library. My assistant made these - they are two columns with background color, image, text, folded around a hard piece of cardboard and laminated. Thanks again for writing!

    ReplyDelete