Religious Fiction

Greetings!

A couple of years ago I got a question regarding religious fiction and where best to place it in the library. It can be argued that it is religious, therefore it should go in the 200’s or it is fiction and should go in the 813’s.

First let’s define ‘religious fiction’. We have Bible stories about people from the Old and New Testaments such as Joseph, Dahveed, Mary and Martha, and others. Our ABC stores are full of titles like these and they are very interesting to read. I call these books Bible Biographies.

Religious Fiction could also be a story with a religious bent such as “If Tomorrow Comes” by Glen Robinson, or “Project Sunlight” by June Strong. Beverly Lewis writes stories about the Amish people with a religious undertone, and other writers such as Nancy Rue, Jeanette Oke, and Kay D. Rizzo also could be included in this category. I believe this kind of religious fiction should be cataloged as 813 since they are stories.

Worship stories or mission stories can also be religious fiction. You may also have religious stories such as “Guide’s Greatest Angel Stories”, or older story collections such as “The Green-eyed Monster” or “Mamma’s Bean Sweater”. (I loved both those books as a child.)

Where should you put these? Here is a suggestion for you. Put the Bible ‘biographies’ in 220.92. If you want Old Testament and New Testament stories separated, then put Old Testament stories in 221.92 and New Testament stories in 225.92. I would not bother separating these unless I had a lot of this kind of story or expected to add more as I was financially able.

Mission stories can be cataloged as 266. Collections of stories (the Guide stories and others) that aren’t mission stories go in 808.8. Devotional books belong in 242. If you have a lot of devotional books and wish to separate the devotional from the daily devotional books, daily devotional books are cataloged as 242.2. I would suggest keeping a few of the best devotionals and putting them all in 242.

In my blog, I have a post very similar to this one from September 2009 that you can also refer to for a little more explanation. Go to sdalibrarian.blogspot.com and click on 2009, then September and you will find it there.

So, where should you put religious fiction? I think the divisions I mentioned above and in my blog will best serve nearly all our SDA schools. When I go help a school catalog their library, I use those divisions. But, if you want to have all the Bible ‘biographies’ in the 813’s since they are stories, then feel free to catalog them there.

For a quick recap of this post:
220.92 Bible ‘Biographies’
OR 221.92 Old Testament stories
225.92 New Testament stories
242 Devotional books (242.2 - Daily devotionals, if desired)
266 Mission stories
813 Religious Fiction

I hope you have a great week.
Audrey