Catalyst Grant Final Report
“Genrefying the Middle School Library”
Please provide a brief narrative explaining your project and its outcomes.
One year ago I submitted a grant proposal to genrefy my middle school library to the CRLC and was ecstatic when I received my grant! First the fiction collection had to be analyzed and I had found out that Follett would give me a “Genre Helper” report for free by contacting my Follett representative I obtained that report.
Carts were gathered from other libraries in the district to aide with the physical rearrangement of the library. Advice was sought from both librarians who had genrefied their collections and our BOCES library automation system experts who would assist with the cataloging of global changes.
Then a major flood hit our high school and attempted to derail my project as all summer PD (professional development) was rerouted to be held in my library over the summer. The flood also took out most of our LAN, our WIFI and as a result school closed early in June of 2024. Luckily, I could begin the analyzing portion of my project at home with the Genre Helper report I had obtained and I worked for a couple of weeks from home using the report and identifying one of the collections largest genres of the fiction, realistic fiction.
A couple of weeks later I was able to gain access to my school library and started the work of physically moving and sorting books. I worked with each group needing to use my library for PD, so that I could quietly work around them throughout the summer, sometimes working in the evenings on sorting books. While it was originally planned to be a messy sorting process of all sections being sorted simultaneously, that wouldn’t work as I needed to share my space. To keep the shared space neat, I utilized carts and shelf-tops only, and many of the 8,000 books would need to be moved multiple times.
Remarkably I met my goal of having 85% of the collection sorted, scanned and updated in our circulation system with the help of BOCES library automation services by the start of school in September. There was one more complication to the plan however, we would share our building between the middle school and high school, and I would only have access to my collections during the afternoon portion of the day for the year. That changed in February, when our high schoolers could move back into their building. Finally, it is the end of May and I would consider the project 99% complete. I just have one cart of retrospective collections to sort and a few boxes of new books.
Our library looks amazing! We have been so energized by this project we have even tried to add some dynamic shelving arrangement and more forward-facing covers for students!
What is the most remarkable accomplishment or finding of your project?
It was very remarkable that one of my intended results, of students being able to navigate the library to locate books independently, showed immediate results. While I expected this result to take months or longer, we saw students gravitating to the genre section of their choice, browsing them and finding books of their choice within weeks. We also saw students being able to conquer alphabetical order in the now smaller sections with ease and confidence. Even high school students who were forced to return to their middle school for 1/2 school due to our flood, commented on how nice the new arrangement was.
How did your project differ from what you originally proposed?
Beyond the hurdles we had to work around of a flood requiring shared space over summer months and for the first half of the year, the only difference was in signage. I had originally proposed using Canva to design my own signage. I found I needed temporary signage at the beginning of the year and I did that with garage sale arrow signs. Those have since been replaced with more expensive signage from Demco. I was able to utilize my materials budget to add to grant funding to acquire Demco Shelfsparks which are neon descriptions on a black plastic sign. The signage includes genre area signs at the top of shelves and dividers to make the beginning of genre sections.
Please provide a brief summary of your evaluation activities and/or results, if available.
Reactions from returning students and teachers were very positive. We immediately began to receive compliments and noticed an ease students felt when searching for books that interested them. Students were browsing with more purpose, choosing a favorite genre and finding books on their own. Students who were asked if they needed assistance, often responded they did not. Additionally, students who are regular library users have been asked personally for their reactions, which have all been positive. Some have commented on how comfortable it is just to be able to browse a favorite genre, some have commented that they feel the change is a positive one and the library looks really great.
Unfortunately, circulation statistics are not a valid measure of the projects success as I had hoped they would be. This year due to our shared building situation where we only attended 1/2 day and had 22-minute classes vs. the 42-minute classes students normally have students had far less time to visit the library and many did not leave their very short study halls to visit the library. This resulted in lower circulation during the first five months of the school year, with average circulation dropping by 33% compared to the previous school year.
In February we returned to full day and had normal circulation for two months which resulted in a 28.5% increase in circulation over the previous year. Those two normal months were followed by threats of school violence which resulted in low attendance and lowered circulation by an average of 12% during April/May. For this reason, I do not think circulation is a valid measure of the project’s success. While we could consider returning to full day in February and March which resulted in a 28.5% increase in circulation a positive, it is hard to determine if that increase was due to genrefying the collection or students just back to full day.
My overall sense, however, tells me genrefication was the correct move for OSMS library and the library is looking beautiful and is easier to navigate if my teacher and librarian observations are correct, which I believe they are.
Anything else you’d like us to know?
This has been a challenging year to take on this grant and amazing process. I told myself it would take several years to see results of these efforts. Surprisingly, I saw results with students searching and locating materials, I witnessed increased confidence navigating the library collection and successful location of books independently, almost immediately. It has been so gratifying to see the extra time and effort put in has made a difference to students and faculty. I am grateful for CLRC’s support as this in one of my final projects as I retire in June of 2026. As I retire, I am so pleased to feel I’ve left students one more tool to be successful in our middle school library and I’m so proud of the way the fiction collection looks and works for our patrons!
Deb Becker
Librarian and K-12 Library Director, Oneida City School District’s Otto Shortell Middle School
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