What a Character! Revamping the Picture Book Section

The following fun idea is from the WLVS (WI Valley Library Service) January 2021 newsletter, edited by Jamie Matczak.

Do children in your library gravitate toward character books at your library? 

The Loyal Public Library noticed this behavior and recently finished a complete revision of its picture books.

"We originally had our books shelved by the author, and now they are shelved by subject,” said director Teresa Hall. “A few years ago, we put some character books in bright totes on the shelves, and this was very well-received by the kids.”  

The library decided to do this with all of the picture books. Hall said the project took several weeks, because staff took every picture book off the shelf and put them in piles on the floor by subject. Some books were easier than others to identify. Then, all the books had to be relabeled. 

"When a child or parent come in and ask ‘Where are your dog books or your truck books?’ we can take the child or parent directly to these items,” Hall said. “Before, we had to hunt through the author sections or take them to our non-fiction section. It’s so much easier now.” 

Hall said despite this being a large and cumbersome project, it was worth it. 

"We have been getting positive feedback from parents, which reinforces that the change was worth our time and effort,” Hall said. “We are now tossing around the idea of putting some non-fiction materials into these subjects, but we haven't made a final decision on that yet.”

For more information on this project, contact Teresa Hall at director@loyal.lib.wi.us.