I found this topic very interesting, and one that I will definitely research more in the future when I have my own library. It will also make me pay close attention when I go into libraries, whether they be public libraries or school libraries, as to whether or not the librarian has chosen to organize his/her library by genres or not. Just knowing what I know as of now, it seems like if a library is divided into genres it tends to pigeonhole a book more than it should be, but I will find out some more information before I make a definite decision!
Dr. Perry used a nice series of graphic organizers to explain to us the different genres. Basically there is Fiction and Non-Fiction, and sub-genres underneath each. Under Fiction you have realism, which includes modern and historical. Also under Fiction there is fantasy, with traditional fantasy such a legends, folktales, etc. And modern fantasy, with science fiction and high and low fantasy under that as well. I hadn’t thought of modern fantasy divided up in such way before, and it was nice to have the examples of Lord of the Rings and Games of Thrones to illustrate high fantasy.
Under Non-Fiction you have informational, which is broken into biography, narrative non-fiction and expository non-fiction. I liked the example of The Notorious Benedict Arnold for an example of narrative non-fiction, and will put it on my list since I liked Bomb by the same author.
Dr. Perry also stressed that subjects/categories are not genres, such as war, chick lit, guy reads, etc. She talked about some of the pros of genres in libraries, such as circulation, and also some of the cons, such as if boys want to read Twilight, will they want to be caught going to the Chick Lit section to get it? Will the students have the same thinking that you do? Definitely some things to think about when I am a librarian. Also if I inherit a library that is already organized one way or another, how much time and money does it take to change it the way I want it to be?
Format of a book was also talked about in this chapter, and how it is not the same as genre. A format of a book would be Poetry, Drama, Novels, Short Stories, Picture Books, and Chapter Books and Graphic Novels. I liked the examples that were shown not only because it showed the genre and format of each book, but also because it gave me more titles to read!
This chapter gave me some questions to ponder and think about for the future!
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