Elizabeth Lovsin

LIS 777: Nemec-Loise

Access: Qualitative Analysis

The Youth Services collection at the Deerfield Public Library is arranged

in a way that is appropriate to the children and families served by these
materials. Everything from the layout of the room, the types of shelving
used, and the signage displayed aids young library users and their caregivers
in discovering materials. The library was completely renovated in 2013, and
it is clear from the space devoted to Youth Services and the thoughtful
design within that space that childrens access to materials is a priority
(Huston).
The spacious Youth Services area features a Preschool Pavilion, an
area full of toys including a block building table, a train table, various puzzles
and dollhouses, and a small puppet theater. This space is at the very end of
the Youth Services area, featuring an exterior wall of windows that look out
on a busy street. This play space is clearly visible from the entrance to the
Youth Services section, and therefore draws playful children into the room. In
order to reach the toys, children and their caretakers must necessarily pass
the Youth Services desk and walk down the large aisle that is bordered by
Juvenile Fiction on the left side and Picture Books on the right. The height
and arrangement of the shelves enable patrons to look beyond these

immediate sections to see those that are located further into the room on
each side.
This design not only ensures that users know the location of the desk
and the large number of materials within the collection, but it also provides
many visual indicators of the categorization of these materials. These visual
indicators help the arrangement of the collection to be intuitive to even the
youngest users. Shelves of different sizes arranged in different areas of the
room suggest that the books in one area are different from the books in
another. Books that appeal to the youngest patrons are on low shelving units
bordering the play area, while the rest of the Youth materials, as well as a
small Parent/Teacher section next to the play area, are on taller five-shelf
units often featuring empty bottom shelves. The change in shelving units
visually suggests that these materials are intended for slightly taller patrons.
The low shelves for the smallest patrons feature signs with images of
book covers as well as the letter range of the authors last names. Children
run up and point out their favorite characters pictured on these signs, and
they eventually begin to understand that those images indicate the
placement of the books. Board Books and Concept Books are in low bin
shelving units adjacent to the play area that are easy for toddlers to reach
and explore. Picture Books, Kits, Little Books, and Holiday Books are on
three-shelf units, totaling 720 linear feet of shelf space, that run from the
play area into the center of the room. The items in all of these sections are
organized alphabetically by author, except for the Holiday books that are first

arranged by holiday in the order of the calendar year. The materials on

these shelves are within easy reach for most children, and the signs and the
location of the shelves make them an inviting space for children to browse.
Low tables and carts to replace books encourage the handling of materials.
As children grow and are no longer interested in the Preschool Pavilion,
the arrangement of the collection still makes intuitive sense. Sitting in the
middle of the room, across an aisle from the Picture Book section and right
behind the Youth Services desk, are the Early Readers. While the Early
Readers section is not very large, totaling only 180 linear feet of shelf space,
it is highly visible from the entrance of the room and the Picture Book
section. These items are shelved on taller five-shelf units, suggesting a
graduation to more mature reading material. Each item bears a color-coded
sticker with a written suggested reading level: Pre-1 is Yellow; 1st is Blue; 2nd
is Red; 3rd is Green; 4th is Brown. These numbers are written in terms of
Reading Level, not grade. The catalog entries indicate both the numbered
reading level and the corresponding color to aid patrons in finding materials.
The items are organized by reading level and then alphabetically by author
or character, and the shelves on which they are placed are clearly
designated by reading level. The reading level system, the colored stickers,
the signs on the shelves, forward facing items, and shelves that are not too
tightly packed all help beginning readers and their caretakers to browse and
discover appropriate materials.

Juvenile materials make up the bulk of the collection. A small Juvenile

Reference collection, only 60 linear feet, is on one shelving unit adjacent to
the Early Readers shelves. This placement makes sense, because this
shelving unit is the closest one to the computer area and the entrance to the
Teen Space, so teenage patrons can access these reference materials
without feeling that they are in an area meant for younger children. The rest
of the Juvenile materials are organized on five-shelf units forming
perpendicular rows to the two long sides of the room.
Juvenile Nonfiction and Juvenile Biography dominate the interior side of
the room, taking up 960 linear feet of shelving. This area is adjacent to the
computers and the shelves for Reference and Early Reader materials, and is
effectively a peninsula: while the length of the space is open to the rest of
the room, two of the other sides are bordered by windowless walls and the
third features small group study rooms. Despite the fact that it is near the
play area, these shelves feel tucked away and quieter, which is appropriate
for the study and research for which these materials may be used. The
group study rooms, tables and chairs, and built in cushioned seating along
the walls encourage patrons to settle down and look through books as soon
as they have gathered them from the shelves.
Juvenile Biography is organized alphabetically by the subjects name,
and the Juvenile Nonfiction is organized according to the Dewey Decimal
System. These shelves are some of the most tightly packed in this
collection, although there are still some forward facing items. There are

signs on the ends of the Nonfiction shelving units detailing the Dewey range
contained on each shelf, featuring three images of some of the topics
contained along that shelving unit. While these images on the signs
definitely make this area easier to browse, further signage could make it
even more accessible to young patrons. Small signs placed along the
shelves with words and images to denote topics like Animals, Weather,
American History, and so on could assist children in discovering sought
after materials.
When patrons enter the Youth Services room and walk down that
central aisle, the large section of the room to their left contains different
categories of primarily fictional works. This section, comprising 1,444 linear
feet of shelf space, is the largest area of the Youth Services room and
displays some excellent signage to guide children and families. This area is
also currently experiencing a reorganization: 105 of that 1,444 linear feet is
currently blank shelves, because the Juvenile Series section that used to
reside there has been merged with the larger Juvenile Fiction section. The
Juvenile Paperback section is also in the process of being merged with
Juvenile Fiction, so many of those shelves are sparsely filled.
The sections in this area of the library will soon be: Juvenile Fiction,
Juvenile Book Group, Juvenile Playaways, Juvenile Audiobooks, Graphic
Novels, Folk & Fairy Tales, and Magazines. This is an appropriate number of
categories. The aforementioned separate Paperback and Series sections are
superfluous, and could actually confuse patrons when they are looking for all

the works of a certain author. The separate Book Group section, however, is
valuable because it makes finding items for book groups very efficient.
Although the Folk & Fairy Tale materials have the traditional Juvenile
Nonfiction categorization and Dewey Decimal System organization, their
content is fiction and their location on this side of the room seems more
intuitive than placement with the rest of the Nonfiction. This placement,
however, is not perfect and will be discussed again shortly. All other
categories in this area are based on format, not genre, which makes the
differentiation easy to understand.
Juvenile Fiction, Book Group, Paperback, Playaways, and Audiobooks
are all shelved on freestanding shelving units arranged in rows perpendicular
to a wall of windows with built-in cushioned seating, which creates a nice
atmosphere for browsing and flipping through books of interest. The
materials on these freestanding shelves are all alphabetized by author name,
and signs on the ends of the shelving units indicate the letter range and
feature images of book covers to draw young patrons in and suggest popular
titles.
Some of the items spines bear genre stickers, but most books do not
have a label. Genre stickers can help users find new material when they are
browsing. While some libraries separate the fiction into different genre
sections, such an organization has downfalls like scattering an authors
works and too narrowly defining cross-genre works. While the identification
of one major genre for each work can still be a challenge, a label applied to

an item does not have the same effect as physically separating items.
Separating items by genre could create a possible barrier to access, but
application of one genre label to each item is likely to increase access by
helping browsers. Evaluating items and placing genre stickers where they
would likely help connect books with readers would be a positive step to
improve access to these materials.
The Graphic Novels, Folk & Fairy Tales, and Magazines sections are
tucked away against a back wall. To assist patrons in noticing these sections,
huge colorful letters are painted on the walls above the shelves of the first
two of these sections. If this dramatic signage were not in place, it would be
very easy to overlook this area. This is a perfect example of how signage
can assist access. Graphic Novels are organized by author name and each
one bears a Graphic Novel sticker, Folk & Fairy Tales are organized using
the Dewey Decimal System, and the magazines are alphabetized by title and
placed into clear bins on the shelves, each bin containing the past twelve
issues of one title.
While the organization of Graphic Novels and Magazines feels highly
accessible, the Folk & Fairy Tales section is more complicated. While it
seems that fractured fairy tales and more modern or creative retellings are
shelved with the Picture Books and given the E Author Name label, more
traditional picture book retellings of fairy tales are given a Juvenile Nonfiction
label with a Dewey number. Yet the probable audience for these picture
book fairy tales, whether traditional or modern, is the same. It seems

unlikely that a four-year-old (or his or her caregiver) who wants to hear a
Three Little Pigs story would think to leave the Picture Book section and
venture over to the corner containing Folk & Fairy Tales, surrounded as it is
by material at an older intellectual level. The problem is that the Folk & Fairy
Tale section contains a broad range of intellectual levels. Access for younger
patrons and their families might be enhanced if this entire section was
placed closer to the Picture Books section, perhaps by swapping locations
with the Parent/Teacher section. Another option would be to move the items
with a younger intellectual level into the Picture Book section, leaving the
items with higher intellectual levels in the current location. It would even be
possible to maintain the Juvenile Nonfiction classification, with just a
separate space within the Picture Book section for the Folk & Fairy Tale
picture books.
Overall, the physical arrangement of this collection is highly
discoverable and creates excellent access for young patrons and families.
The library catalog mirrors this physical accessibility, both by being fairly
intuitive to use and by its records matching the physical shelf arrangement.
The catalog is also easily accessible within the library due to the four catalog
computers spaced throughout the Youth Services area, with signs directing
users to their locations. Once the catalog has been accessed, the basic
catalog search is just an empty text entry box similar to what one sees on
major search engines. Title and author searches are typically efficient, while
subject search results are often more scattered. Links along the left side of

the results provide limiters, including format, language, and collections such
as Juvenile Books. Advanced search options are also available.
Within the list of results, what is visible for each entry is an item cover
image, title, author, format, year of publication, availability, location, and a
button to Request it, along with a few other actions. The location
information is clear and helpful. For instance, The Dinosaurs are Having a
Party! has the listed location of Juvenile Picture Book (E Jones). With that
information and the layout and signage of the library, locating a copy of that
book should not be difficult. As mentioned previously, the entries for Early
Readers include the color and reading level. One could also search the
catalog for something like 1st reading level, and see a list of items with that
level, including Get That Hat, with listed availability at Early Reader (BLUE
EARLY READER FARBER). This is another example of the catalog location
pointing users to exactly the right place on the shelves. Nonfiction entries
list Juvenile Book Nonfiction with the Dewey Decimal number, and other
entries list the appropriate section, such as Juvenile Graphic Novel,
Juvenile Book Group, and so on. These catalog descriptions and the
signage in the library work together to enhance access.
The only area of probable confusion from the catalog is, again, the Folk
& Fairy Tale section. If one searches for red riding hood, the results will
include items like Ninja Red Riding Hood and Red Riding Hood and the Sweet
Little Wolf in the Picture Book section, and various picture book adaptations
by different illustrators of the traditional Little Red Riding Hood title together

at Juvenile Book Nonfiction (398 PERRAULT LIT). It is likely that patrons

searching for these books from the catalog would go to the Juvenile
Nonfiction section, and not to the Folk & Fairy Tale section that is on the
opposite side of the large room. Including a note in the catalog that the item
is located in Juvenile Folk & Fairy Tale, instead of simply Juvenile Nonfiction,
could help users more easily find these types of materials.
The Youth Services collection of the Deerfield Public Library is highly
accessible. The categories into which materials are organized are
comprehensive with no superfluous sections. The library particularly excels
in the overall design of the library space, the use of different types and
arrangements of shelving to denote separate parts of the collection, and
signage that is clear and developmentally appropriate. All of these factors
have a positive impact on access for young library users.
There are a few small changes that could further improve access for
library patrons. Small signs along the shelves of the Juvenile Nonfiction
section stating the topics covered on each shelf could help browsers find
objects of interest. More genre labels on the items in the various fiction
categories could also assist browsers. A reevaluation of the Folk & Fairy Tale
section, including either a relocation of the section or a separation of the
intellectual levels within that section, and catalog records that more
accurately direct patrons to the appropriate location, would enhance access
to this part of the collection. While this collection has no major barrier to

access, these fairly small changes could make a highly accessible collection
even more discoverable.

Works Cited
Deerfield Library. Deerfield Public Library, n.d. Web. 28 Sep., 2015.
deerfieldlibrary.org.
Huston, John P. A sneak peek at Deerfields renovated library: Expanded
facility to open next month. Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune, 23 May
2013. Web. 28 Sep., 2015.