Organising a classroom library need not be a herculean task, as long as you use the right sorting, library book furniture and labelling. With that thought, let’s discover the simple steps to organising a classroom library.

Plan The Sorting Of The Books

The first step is to decide how you will sort the library books. The recommended method is to divide the books by genre to make it easier for kids to distinguish between them. Categorise the books as fiction and non-fiction. From there, sort them by sub-categories. If not that, then you can organise them by reading level.

Which sorting method you use should depend upon:

• personal preference
• reading instruction philosophy.

Irrespective of which technique you utilise, make sure that students can find any book they want (and put it back) seamlessly and effortlessly.

Assess The Space And Pick The Right Furniture

The next step to organising is assessing the space in the classroom. Find a nook that gives you the most space to install library bookshelves. The best method is to arrange the shelves against a wall. Keeping the racks in the middle of the room is not conducive to learning.

When you have assessed the space, invest in the right library table, shelves and racks. They will not only help store them properly but also create an airy feel to the classroom. And lastly, they’ll display the books invitingly, encouraging students to read.

Make sure that the library shelves are only used to store books and no other classroom essentials. It will prevent any visual confusion and needlessly bring foot traffic to the area.

Finally, Label The Shelves

The final step you must take when organising a classroom library is to label every shelve, rack or bin you use. This guarantees that students have no trouble navigating the library. The labels should match the sorting technique you used in step 1.

An excellent idea is to add pictures to the labels to give visual cues and make the shelves more attractive to learners. One more trick teachers can use, especially for smaller grades, is adding a sticker label on each book that sits on a particular shelf. The label will tell the student which location they need to keep the book when returning it.

Tips for your book and shelves labels are:

• Make them bold.
• Make them colourful.
• Make them easy to read.
• Match the shelf label to the books that are placed inside it.

These were the three steps a teacher must take when organising a classroom library. An additional step that can help keep it in order for a long time is teaching the students rules and expectations.

Talk to students on how to borrow and return the library books. Plan a lesson around it, so they can learn properly how to keep the classroom library organised. And you will never have to worry about sorting out the library shelves again and again!

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