Amy Fish, Media Services Coordinator Fort Wayne Community Schools Largest School district in Indiana with 30,000 students, grades PreK-12 75 languages spoken 49 Schools 5 High Schools 1 Career and Technology Center 1 Alternative School 10 Middle Schools 1 Intermediate (1-8) 30 Elementary Schools 2 Early Childhood Centers

Library Staffing Centralized Processing Department 1 Supervisor 1 Cataloger 3.5 Clerks High School and Middle School Certified School Media Specialists Additional duties added in 2009 to avoid being cut Teaching classes outside media center Elementary, 25 hour, Classified Media Clerks Reduced hours to comply with Obamacare

increase nonfiction and picture book checkout browse-able BEFORE – STUDENTS DO NOT KNOW AUTHORS Reasons to Ditch Dewey increase nonfiction and picture book checkout browse-able more accessible kids more independent whole word labels/visual cues less shelving time Now – Organized by topic with picture clue

NONFICTION BOOKS DITCHING DEWEY PICTURE BOOKS

PILOT SCHOOLS Staff at each school was interested in making these changes to make the collection better for their students. We supplied additional help during the transition. 1. TITLE I ELEMENTARY SCHOOL – PRE-K – 5TH GRADES RENOVATING SCHOOL, PACKING UP BOOKS STUDENTS CHOSE BOOKS BY BROWSING MEDIA CLERK SHELVED BY DROPPING DECIMAL 2. EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER – PRESCHOOL/KINDERGARTEN Students were not accessing nonfiction independently until Kindergarten

HOW?

RESULTS A LOT OF WORK RE-LABELING DECIDING WHERE TO PUT EACH BOOK TAKES TIME…….. INCREASE IN PICTURE BOOK CHECKOUT DIFFICULT TO FIND BOOKS FOR TEACHERS/UNITS

MY RECOMMENDATIONS NONFICTION INCREASE SIGNAGE DROP THE DECIMAL GENREFY CHAPTER BOOKS USE CHARACTER PICTURES PICTURE BOOK BROWSER BINS

Contact Info: amy.fish@fwcs.k12.in.us