By the Library Team
Halfway down the stairs
is a stair
where I sit.
there isn’t any
other stair
quite like
it.
I’m not at the bottom,
I’m not at the top;
so this is the stair
where
I always
Stop.
(From Halfway Down by A.A Milne)
In a recent long drawn activity on our LEC 2020 course, a shelf arrangement activity was initiated and all of us on the library team at Bookworm were eager and full of anticipation. You see at Bookworm we have played around a lot with organizing our collection.
With a large collection of books across ages , form and type and limited space and shelving possibilities, we constantly arrange and organize our collection.
Some time honored principles that we maintain irrespective of design and placement are
- Borrowers and browsers are at the center of our imagination
- Books at eyeball level- front facing to catch our readers attention
- Books should all be well maintained in full respect of the reader
- Shelves are labelled for readers to be able to classify & locate their choices
- Human led library tour to explain our every changing system
In the past few months, our library collection has been refreshed significantly. With the abrupt closure of school, thousands of books are not returned and in the past month we have sent out over 100 boxes of books in the hope of small community lending. This has compelled further refreshment and reorganization and we wished to walk you through our library – again.
We consistently draw on the wisdom of our fine children’s librarian friend and mentor Usha Mukunda, who asks questions that we should keep at the center of our work
For whose benefit do we classify or arrange books?
Is there a particular situation in which we are classifying?
It becomes clear that we need to know our clients – age level, interests, searching patterns, particular situations etc.
How important is it to save the time of the user?
Do we classify under the broadest heading or the narrowest heading? Which makes more sense?
Is searching more important or finding the right book and reading it more important?
Come discover our arrangement at the Bookworm Library Mala Panaji Goa.
Reception:
When you enter Bookworm, we want you to feel that you have stepped into a warm arrival room. Since we are located in Goa, we have dedicated a shelf to books from the region and about the region. You will find books on Goa’s history and culture, short stories, biographies, children’s books, flora and fauna of Goa, food and more. .
A small table holds samples of Bookworm Publishing collection for browsing.
The reception hosts all the new arrivals and the collection of graphic books. Separate stands host the magazines that arrive at Bookworm for both children and adults. Magazines can be browsed, read and returned for free. Please step in and take one.
From now onwards, you need to pay attention to two organizing features in the library.
- Rooms are referred to by colour – not because of the wall paint but because of the colour codes used for book tagging
- Shelves are open, books front facing and open access but in each room cupboards pre existed and they contain treasures too ! Open them.
The Two-colour room Yellow and Dark Orange
Depending on which door you choose to enter, you may find yourself in the dark orange section (young adults) or in the yellow section (pre – teens) Whichever doorway, the room is bursting with books of all/varied types and forms. There is non fiction in cupboards and on shelves. There are fiction books of all types – from picture to novel and in early chapter sizes to thick tomes. There are plays and dark mysteries. There are riddles and jokes. If you are a reader, this is the room to be in! If you are confused, look within the Outstanding Shelf (yes, this room has it too!) or the large must-read shelf and if you are looking for an old favourite there are classics and more.
As you exit the two-colour room you will encounter passageways jammed with books. One holds books for adults; readers find fat pickings here as the corridor is narrow but alcoves enable all to browse and find thanks to neatly marked shelf labels. Do keep your eyes peeled for some interesting finds from way back in the day to fresh off the press.
Another corridor hosts the Poetry collection, and books in other languages for younger readers.
If you turn into any of the rooms you may find yourself in either the Light Orange Room…
In this room, we have a collection of books for the age group of 7 to 12 years old. This room is one of the most active rooms as most of our library users’ access this room. The room is very spacious and we have laid out shelves along the walls to enable a working space in the center. The ambience of the room is vibrant because of the collection and the sunlight from three windows.
Shelves are organised by genre – one wall has the non fiction books and the other walls have fiction books for children between 6 – 9 years of age. Fiction books are almost all Picture Books arranged alphabetically by title in rows, and are front facing. There are also genres like Traditional Tales and a large collection of Graded Readers for growing in confidence with reading.
The non fiction shelves are organised by subjects such as Animals, space, Human body, social science, nature and environment.
It is at this age that children also get interested in serialised stories and so we host a number of ‘series’ in Picture Book format here as well. It is not unusual to find a young reader come in and head straight for the Magic School Bus series of the Mr Men as they read their way through the collection.
The most packed shelf however is one labelled Outstanding Books and each book is marked with a star. You will find this shelf in all our rooms with age appropriate must – reads. The collection in this shelf is curated by the Bookworm team and is a wonderful mix of fiction and non fiction and wordless and semi fiction texts. You must stop by some day soon.
Oh before I leave the room it would be nifty to share that a light blue cupboard in the wall holds all the anthologies that the library has for this age group. You can borrow large volumes of fairy tales, 365 stories for the year and other collections.
There is also a range of activity books that include Where is Waldo, Mazes and other puzzling mysteries.
Or you may find yourself in the Green Room.
This Room is for the age group from 0-6 year olds. In this room various categories of books are found such as picture books, readers, series, outstanding books, early concept, pop-up, TV series, non-fiction, transport, emotional themed books. We have a separate section of books for parents.
Bindi Su, our own red car who came from a story of the same name occupies pride of place in this room and every child who comes in drives her often while reading and browsing and stepping in and stepping out stashing books. If a book is missing, look in Bindi Su !
Toys, blocks, lego and stuffed toys make up a part of the collection in the Green Room (You are right ! The sticker code is green not the walls!)
Over 70% of the collection in this room is in the form of Board Books and easy to manipulate formats with pop-outs, flaps and other interactive features. We feel very strongly that our youngest of readers engage with books by acting on and with them and so the collection is resourced in this way.
The library collection is vast, curated and carefully selected. Thematic shelves sit upstairs with resource books and the Bookworm database can help you find a book you may be looking for that is not shelved for want of display space.
Do come in and ask, or email us at mail@bookwormgoa.in or call at 9823222665. The collection awaits you and the arrangement is for your ease of browsing and use. Come!
