Shifting

At my library, the graphic novel collection in the teen area was rather cramped.  The shelves were crowded, and some shelves didn't have any room to spare for new materials.  The whole space was uninviting and frankly, it looked sloppy.  Here are the pictures to prove it:

Clearly it was time to do something about this area.  Fortunately, I had some willing helpers from the circulation department who were interested in helping out with a project like this.

The good news was that it was actually possible to do a little bit of shifting to make some extra room.  I sadly don't have any "before" picture that show it, but once upon a time there was a stack of shelves immediately next to the graphic novels that held teen magazines.  These shelves were swapped with some regular shelves that had been used as a display space.  While I was initially a bit reluctant to sacrifice the display space, this exchange was well worth it.  This gave me the freedom to spread the graphic novels out into six brand new shelves!  Just look at the difference:

The top shelves admittedly look a tad barren at the moment, but there are several manga series that are shelved in this area that are quickly growing as new volumes are published (Bakuman, Black Butler, Blue Exorcist).  Another series featured in the top photo (Fairy Tail) was half checked out and room had to be left for the series' other volumes for when they returned.  Besides, I wanted to be sure to have plenty of room to add additional graphic novels to the collection in this crowded area.  Believe me, there is a reason for leaving all of this space!  

Having more room on the shelves makes a huge difference.  The whole collection is much easier to browse and it is much more inviting.  Patrons are less likely to be intimidated by crowded shelves, and the library pages no longer get frustrated when they are trying to reshelve books and find that there is no room.  It's a win for everyone!