taking the guesswork out of genre
TRANSCRIPT
Taking the guesswork out of genre
Michael Jongen
Library Services Coordinator
Education Services Australia
• A not-for-profit, ministerial company established to provide services to the Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood (SCSEEC)
• Assists with the infrastructure and content to support implementation of national initiatives such as the Australian Curriculum and National Professional Standards for Teachers
• Manages existing services: SCIS, ScOT thesaurus, Scootle, myfuture and Curriculum Press
What does SCIS provide?
• 1.3 million+ catalogue records
• 530,000+ authority records
• 200,000+ records with ScOT terms
• 10,000+ educational websites records
• 10,000+ records for e-books
• 140+ records for apps
• 500,000+ book cover images
for 10,500+ subscribers who download 8 million+ catalogue records p.a. plus 1,000+ Z39.50 users
Genrefication
Lego Record Store. Photography by eldeeem. CC BY-NC-SA
Genrefication and Led Zepplin
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Glossary?a=SSCEEN&t=Genre
Define Genre
The categories into which texts are grouped. The term has a complex history within literary theory and is often used to distinguish texts on the basis of their subject matter (for example, detective fiction, romance, science fiction, fantasy fiction), form and structure (for example, poetry, novels, biography, short stories)
SubgenresScience fiction
Hard science fictionSoft science fictionSpace operaMilitary/BattlesPunk
CyberpunkBiopunkNanopunkPostcyberpunk
SteampunkClockpunkDieselpunkAtompunk
DystopianAlternative universe
Alternative historyPost-apocalypticAlien invasionScientific romance
Cover images from Syndetics
Subgenres – space opera
Subgenres – military/battles
Cover images from Syndetics
Science Fiction – Scope notes
Playground Library Kyoto. Photography by Don Shall. CC BY-NC-ND
Playground for young minds
Dewey v Chaos
‘The biggest hurdle we face in the discussion about reorganizing resources in school libraries is getting over the widely held belief that this is a black-and-white decision between Dewey and chaos.’
Christopher Harris, director of the School Library System of the Genesee Valley (NY) Educational Partnership
At the bookstore. Photography by Nate Grigg. CC BY.
An alternative to traditional methods
This Way To Hogwarts. Photography by Scott Smith. CC BY-NC-ND.
The Harry Potter problem
Genre identifiers in use. Photography by Laura Armstrong. CC BY-NC-SA.
Genre identifiers in use
SCIS genre headings for fiction
http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/cataloguing_standards.html
SCIS Cataloguing Standards
http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/cataloguing_standards.html
Steam Punk scope notes
Subject headings update
www2.curriculum.edu.au/subject_heading_lists.html.
Steam punk in Connections
SCIS Fiction subject tags
It is SCIS policy to assign genre headings to works of fiction…
Taking the Guess work out of genre
SCIS OPAC
• Go to advanced optionshttp://opac.scis.curriculum.edu.au/vwebv/searchAdvanced.• In the ‘Search’ box type in the genre heading, for example
‘school stories.’• Select ‘as a phrase’ from the drop down menu.• Select ‘subject’ from the second drop down menu.• Once you retrieve your results, you can then select
‘Publication (most recent first)’ from the ‘Sort by’ drop
down menu.
Genre Spine Labels
Library – Australian International School Singapore. Photography by Rhondda. CC BY-NC
References• Clark, C and Rumbold, K 2006, 'Reading for pleasure: A research overview'.
National Literacy Trust, [online] http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED496343.pdf• Eichholzer, B, ‘Taking the guesswork out of genre’ Connections
http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/connections/issue_91/articles/taking_the_guesswork_out_of_genre.html
• Good keen librarian, Genre Shelving - the (almost) finished product http://goodkeenlibrarian.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/genre-shelving-almost-finished-product.html
• National Library of New Zealand, ‘Arranging library fiction by genre’ http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/school-libraries/building-and-managing-collection/arranging-library-fiction-genre#advantages-arranging-fiction-by-genre
• Librarian blogs• http://www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab/ditching-dewey• http://www.readerpants.net/2011/09/genre-fication-project.html• http://liberrygurl.blogspot.com.au/2012_11_01_archive.html • http://www.risking-failure.com/2013/12/genre-shelving-plan.html
Libraries that have changed to a genre arrangement report greatly increased borrowing
http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/school-libraries/building-and-managing-collection/arranging-library-fiction-genre#advantages-arranging-fiction-by-genre
1. Do you find it easy to choose a book to read?
http://goodkeenlibrarian.blogspot.co.nz/2014/11/genre-shelving-students-have-their.html
Do you think shelving books by genre has made it easier for you to find books to read?
http://goodkeenlibrarian.blogspot.co.nz/2014/11/genre-shelving-students-have-their.html