The newest changes to the library have been two years in the making, but they are finally complete. 

The shelves have been reorganized to be “genrefied” rather than by fiction and nonfiction. The romance section is the largest, and the classics are the smallest. The nonfiction section, however, will remain sorted by the Dewey Decimal system. These changes were made to help students find what they are looking for. 

“When [students] were coming in looking for these books, and [for example] they were asking for romance books, we were like ‘they’re kind of spread around, you’ll have to go look’. And while we’re able to make some recommendations, I am not a romance reader so it was hard for me to say ‘Here is where you can find all of your options’,” head librarian Elizabeth Faron said. 

The feedback from students has been positive, according to sophomore Elliot Hall. 

“Before, when it was alphabetized, it was fine, but then you also had to find out if the particular book is fiction or nonfiction, because it might have aspects of both. However, I do think it’s easier to navigate now,” Hall said.

In addition to reorganizing the shelves, the catalog was also pruned because the shelves were becoming too packed. The criteria for removal was if the book had been purchased before 2018, and had been checked out only once or not at all. 

“We were like ‘ok we need to get rid of some of these,’ and so we ran a report, and that was thousands of books. And, now we have room for newer books, books that hopefully students want to read,” assistant Librarian Kaci Manley said. 

Aside from the organizational changes, the library has gotten many cosmetic tweaks including  the wolf-mural, neon signs and comfy furniture, all in the hopes that students will find the space relaxing, and work hard on school work there according to Manley.