Library Organization and Flexible Spaces

We recently had some new shelving installed at Harrison School.  The timing wasn't the most convenient (October-when school was in session) but it was so worth it! Our bookshelves had been overflowing!!  Now that all of the books fit on the shelves (at least until May when all of the books will have to be returned), we were finally able to add some organizational features that will hopefully make it easier for the students to find the books that they want.  Perhaps some of these ideas will be useful to other teacher-librarians out there...

First off, we added several shelves to our easy reader section. This allowed us more space to add shelf signs indicating different popular fiction and non-fiction easy reader sections.  We chose topics that our students seem to ask for the most.

The shelf signs are made from cardboard magazine boxes from Ikea with colored duck tape.  It was cheap and they were easy to make. 

The next thing we added was shelf labels for the series of books in our general fiction section.

For these labels, I printed out the title of the series along with a picture of one of the covers of books in the series.  Then I used contact paper to attach it to the top of the shelf in front of our books.  Our shelves are pretty deep so this works well for us.  This should make it easier for students to find the series they are looking for.

Finally, here are some general pictures of our library:

We are a PK-8 building so our YA (middle school) section is separated from the rest.  Each section is color coded with a different color (colored duck tape on the magazine boxes for the alphabet/Dewey sections).  The sections are: general non-fiction, general fiction, easy readers, and young adult.

All of our tables are on wheels and the tops fold vertical for easy moving if we need to clear the area for an assembly.  The chairs are also on wheels and they stack.

Finally, we have our cozy reading rug and our booths.  The kids LOVE reading in the booths and it's a great place for staff members to work with a small group of students.  

Our new and improved library space is fantastic for reading, lessons with entire classes, small group work, and assemblies!  What are some of your favorite features of your library?