Signed Books!

A big THANK YOU to Ms. H for donating signed copies of the biographies of the Malaysian prime minister and his wife to the MS/HS Library.  Stop by the library to have a look at these facinating donations.

Her Stories

The creators of Her Stories are coming for a visit! 

"Told over the span of 1000 years, HerStories explores the lives of 21 outstanding women of Bengal and present day Bangladesh. Educationalists, poets, athletes, artists and activists, the heroines of HerStories are home-grown role models for future generations."

-Her Stories Website

See the newsletter or one of the librarians for visit details.  And, enjoy this Her Stories book trailer:

  

Creating Subsections

Now that we had all the books moved into their new sections, it was time to split the larger sections into subsections.  (Find our sections and subsections here.)  My amazing assistants did the initial split into subsections.  I then went through each subsection to make sure the books where where I wanted them and in many cases, created a new subsection or combined small sections.  New subsections of Teen Wellness, Education and Parenting, Artists, and Travel Writing emerged through this process.

We decided to keep the books in Dewey order within their subsection.  So that we know where to shelve a book, we put a sticker in the front with the subsection.  We also changed the location in the catalog to the section-subsection.  Here is an example of our destiny catalog entry:

(Yes, we have a Youtubers subsection!!)

And here is a subsection sticker in the front of a book from our History section:

This was one of the longest parts of the process, mostly because I looked at every book.  Once everything was in place, we created shelf labels and signage.  See my next posts for that.  Here are some photos of our Wellness section and subsections:

Labyrinth Journeys by Twylla Alexander

Image from: Amazon.com

I had a personal reason to pick up and read Labyrinth Journeys...I know the author!  Twylla and I taught on the same Grade 2 team at Cairo American College in Cairo, Egypt.  My husband and I often recall that Twylla and her husband, Drew, drove us our first date.  Knowing I wouldn't want to ride, or arrive, in a dirty Cairo taxi to a formal function, they offered to drive us there!

I must admit that I have never walked a labyrinth, but Twylla's journey caught my interest.  I very much enjoyed the stories of the female labyrinth creators Twylla met throughout the throughout the United States, as well as her own story woven throughout the book.  I hope to visit the labyrinths in Sedalia, CO and Cheyenne, WY during my next visit home.

Labyrinth Journeys is an uplifting read.  Pick it up for inspiration as you follow your own journey!

Find Labyrinth Journeys in our library under the call number: WELLNESS 955 ALE

Choosing Nonfiction Sections

The next step in our nonfiction gentrification process was deciding on what sections we want for our books.

This was where I found it hard to find research applicable to a secondary library.  Two favorite resources I found were:

Hoover High School Blog- This  is where I found most of my ideas for our sections and sub-sections.

Mighty Little Librarian Blog- Tiffany Whitehead's series of blog posts on gentrification are where I found much of my information on organizing, shelving, and label-making.

Here is the list of sections and subsections we decided upon for our library:

Nonfiction Sections and Subsections

1. War and Conflict
1. General
2. American Revolution
3. WWI
4. WWII
5. Cold War
6. Modern Wars
2. History
1. General
2. Prehistoric Times
3. Ancient Civilizations
4. Ancient Egypt
5. Ancient Greece
6. Ancient Rome
7. Middle Ages
8. Renaissance
9. Industrial Revolution
10. Modern World
11. Governments
3. True Crime
1. Spies
2. Ninjas! (We had great discussions as to where to put the Ninja books...🤣)
4. Health
1. Diseases and Disorders
2. Addictions
3. Human Body Systems
5. Wellness- We initially had this with health, but the section started to get really large and since wellness is a whole-school initiative so we decided to give it its own section.
1. General Wellness (yoga, stress relief, exercise etc.)
2. Self Improvement/Self-Help
3. Inspirational (Chicken Soup like books)
4. Education
5. Philosophy
6. Religion
1. General
2. Islam
3. Christianity
4. Hinduism/Buddism
7. Global Issues
1. Conservation
2. Alternative Energy
3. Civil Rights
4. Poverty
5. Terrorism
6. Social/Cultural Issues
7. Genocide
8. Narrative (Nonfiction that reads like a story- all genres!)
9. Cooking and Food
10. Music
11. Art & Design
1. General
2. Drawing
3. Crafts
4. Fashion
5. Design (home design, flower arranging, etc.)
6. Photography
12. Sports
13. Fun and Games
1. Video Gaming
2. Coding
3. YouTubers
4. Magic Tricks
5. Math puzzle books (and other puzzle books)
6. Fun Facts (fact books and Quick “encyclopedia-like” reads)
7. Photography
8. Movies and Theatre
14. Supernatural
15. Modern Marvels
1. Internet and Computers
2. Technologies
3. Transportation
4. Inventions
5. Buildings and Structures
16. Business and Math
1. Finance and Economics
2. Corporations and Management
3. Math

17. Science
1. General Science
2. Biomes
3. Biology
4. Genetics
5. Chemistry
6. Earth Science
7. Space
8. Physics
9. Geology and Dinosaurs
10. Nature
11. Natural Disasters
12. Psychology (the study of Psychology, not self help)
18. Animals
1. Pets
2. General
3. Ocean Animals
4. Bugs
5. Amphibians/Reptiles
6. Mammals
7. Birds
8. Animal Fiction
19. Poetry
20. Literature
1. Writing (hints, tips, guides)
2. Drama/plays
3. Language Arts
21. Myths and Legends (move near Fantasy Fiction)
1. Myths
2. Legends
3. Fairytales
4. Folklore
22. Travel and Geography
1. Travel
2. Countries of the world
3. Atlases
23. Biography
24. Graphic Novels
25. College Collection
26. Bangladesh Collection