Breaking out books
Based on opinions that patrons at my former library voiced I would break out a genre collection for these.
Reasons for this
1) Patrons often ask for specific genre sections - This was a constant request. Patrons wanted the library to feel more like a bookstore with genre labels rather than having the entirety of fiction in order by author's last name.
2) There is not as much Urban and LGBTQ fiction in many libraries - Because these are smaller sub genres it is much harder for someone that is looking for it to locate books in these genres. Additionally, they might need to traverse much of the library to look at the couple of books they are checking out.
3) They are able to discover books within the genre they are trying to read in - There is an argument to be made that breaking out genres will make it more difficult for people to accidentally discover a book in a different genre. While this is true, I don’t think this happens super often. I can only speak from my experience but when I am looking for a particular book and can’t find it, I look for something within the same genre. Additionally, I have discover more new authors when the collection has been broken out by genre because I know that I like that genre.
4) A lot of browsing is done online - The library I worked in had a more elderly population that did not always care for technology. That being said it was more rare that a patron came in a browsed through the stacks without looking for a particular author. Most times they even had a title in mind that they looked up before hand. A lot of people, myself included, browse books online with reviews and apps. This means that the physical location within the library is less important as the discovery has already been done and now they are coming in to pick up the book.
Those are my reasons for thinking that breaking out LGBTQ and Urban Fiction into genre collections is a good idea.
Reasons for this
1) Patrons often ask for specific genre sections - This was a constant request. Patrons wanted the library to feel more like a bookstore with genre labels rather than having the entirety of fiction in order by author's last name.
2) There is not as much Urban and LGBTQ fiction in many libraries - Because these are smaller sub genres it is much harder for someone that is looking for it to locate books in these genres. Additionally, they might need to traverse much of the library to look at the couple of books they are checking out.
3) They are able to discover books within the genre they are trying to read in - There is an argument to be made that breaking out genres will make it more difficult for people to accidentally discover a book in a different genre. While this is true, I don’t think this happens super often. I can only speak from my experience but when I am looking for a particular book and can’t find it, I look for something within the same genre. Additionally, I have discover more new authors when the collection has been broken out by genre because I know that I like that genre.
4) A lot of browsing is done online - The library I worked in had a more elderly population that did not always care for technology. That being said it was more rare that a patron came in a browsed through the stacks without looking for a particular author. Most times they even had a title in mind that they looked up before hand. A lot of people, myself included, browse books online with reviews and apps. This means that the physical location within the library is less important as the discovery has already been done and now they are coming in to pick up the book.
Those are my reasons for thinking that breaking out LGBTQ and Urban Fiction into genre collections is a good idea.
Minor deduction for lateness.
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