Where should I put religious fiction?

This question came to me a couple of weeks ago. It can be a little complicated, but here is one solution.

Question: Where do schools put their religious fiction? In the other SDA section? I don’t want these books to be perceived as factual truth.

Response: This is an interesting dilemma. First, I will tell you the “non-librarian” answer. Put the books wherever the students will read them!

Now, the “librarian” answer. By religious fiction, do you mean actually fiction that has a religious moral or religious story? Or do you mean Bible ‘biographies’ such as Joseph by Terry Fivash or Peter by Noni Beth Gibbs?

Bible biographies should be put in the 200’s. We separate the Old Testament biographies from the New Testament biographies. The Old Testament biographies are cataloged in 221.924. The ‘4’ actually helps us in our large library to separate these together on the shelf. This includes titles such as Joseph by Terry Fivash, or Esther by Trudy Morgan Cole.

New Testament biographies are cataloged in 225.924. Again, the use of the ‘4’ helps to keep these books together on the shelf. Included in this section are titles such as John by Ellen Gunderson Traylor and Peter by Noni Beth Gibbs. Bible biographies can also be placed in the biography section if you prefer. If you don’t have many of these Bible biographies, you could just put them all in 220.92 if you want to.

Religious fiction is really a story therefore it goes in the 813 section. This would include titles such as If Tomorrow Comes by Glen Robinson, Project Sunlight by June Strong, and Song of Eve by June Strong.

Last year I mentioned how we catalog mission stories such as Jungle Thorn, Clever Queen, or Dookie, Sookie and Big Mo. We put these in 266. Eric B. Hare’s books are both mission stories and also collections of mission stories. Collections can go in a different place, but I think putting all his books together is just fine. You can choose how you wish to handle those books. Josephine Cunnington Edwards also has different kinds of books. The Enchanted Pillowcase is a collection of mission stories so it is in 266. Alice Princess is essentially a biography so we have one copy in biographies. (I think we also have a copy in missions, so students can find one in either section.) Swift Arrow is a great story and is cataloged in 813. (By the way, if you don’t have a copy of Swift Arrow in your library, get one as soon as you can. This is the perfect book for a boy or girl who does not want to read. You might consider reading two or three chapters, then stopping.)

Another section of religious fiction would be worship stories. Dewey catalogs devotional literature as 242. Daily devotionals can be cataloged as 242.2 to keep them all together.

There are also collections of stories such as the Guide’s Greatest Angel Stories or Guide’s Greatest Mystery Stories. Since these aren’t ‘worship’ stories, but a collection of stories they would go in 808.8.

To recap:
Bible Biographies – all in 220.92 OR separate into 221.924 and 225.924
Religious Fiction – 813
Mission stories – 266
Devotional literature – 242 and 242.2
Story Collections – 808.8

Have a great week!
Audrey