I'm done weeding the hard cover (hc) YA books in my library, so I moved onto the paperbacks (pbs). Know what I've discovered?
Many of the pbs have gone out much more frequently than the hcs. Go pbs!
I must remember to mention that there are about four times as many hcs as pbs, but still, there were fewer pbs that hadn't gone out in over a year. Even the books with the plainish looking covers had gone out more than their hc counterparts.
My theory for why this is?
The pbs are on these [horrendous] [atrocious] [page-ruining] [ugly] [bulky] [messy] spinny racks. You know the kind I mean:
As much as I dislike these racks, what they DO do is allow:
1) lots of visible covers
2) easy replacement on rack (uh, yeah, since they're not in alphabetical order)
and
3) quick browsing of many titles/covers with one glance
Sigh. These racks are the bane of my YA Area's existence, yet they get my books taken out. Oh yes, these are the problems of my world.
Help me out here, folks. Do you like or hate or not care about the spinny racks? What other library display pieces/shelving to you like/dislike?
Deena, Miss Recently Repped
5 comments:
ha ha - I can see how a librarian wouldn't like them much. At our library, we have them in the MG section, but not the YA. They sort-of have it labeled so it's helpful to find the series of books you're looking for, but often a whole huge series of books will be gone from the rack. I think you're right - kids love them because they can see the covers so easily.
I like shelves, not spinny racks, but I'm an old library rat and I like pulling books out and looking at them. My daughter says she likes the peacefulness and shade and aloneness of looking through the shelves.
I don't really like the spinny racks, because sometimes I think it's harder to see the books. But it's much easier to put away. Especially in our library, because our spin racks are for non-cataloged paperbacks. So there's no order and no need to check out.
Sometimes I like spinny racks but then again they drive me crazy! I can never find a book in paperback that I want at the library because they're all just thrown on one of the racks in no alphabetical system. It's annoying! But other times when I'm just browsing it's nice to see all the different titles real easily.
-Breanna
I do tend to salivate over the shelves, where I can find everything (well, almost) just by knowing the alphabet! (and the decimal system). I'm with Kate's kiddo on the atmosphere thing. I always look at the spinny racks at the bookstore for those easy reader books for my youngest. I never look there for stuff for me or my older kiddo. Hmmmm....what to do?
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