In bookstores there is not enough SF to put in its own section, also one has to account for blurry novels between the two. Also in bookstores what is usually split off is series books like Star Wars and Star Trek.
In libraries there is usually so little room for fiction that all fiction is interfiled with sometimes genre spine labels.
I often find myself wishing that all fiction would just be lumped under "fiction" and alphabetically by author. Most of my favorite authors fit a lot of different categories. Poppy Z Brite's Liquor sometimes winds up in "horror" due to her previous works, but it's not a horror book. It's funny...bit of drama...tad bit of mystery...then of course there's the gay-interest, and foodie aspects. Just "fiction" would be nice.:-)
As a librarian and a reader studies researcher, I have to say there is not one answer, but that whatever mechanism is used for large scale organization, a) it must be made explicit, b) alternate modes of access must be available for directed searching, and c) aids must be provided for browsing.
Personally, it does not really matter a bunch to me as long as I can easily find the appropriate section.
Of course, in a bookstore--as opposed to a library--the answer "together, because the same readers read them." Which is true; the overlap is well over 80%.
(As I remarked this past weekend, the reason bookstore categories exist is simple and fundamental: it's because customers don't want to have to dig through a giant pyramid of books in the middle of the floor.)
I imagine libraries might be more interested in purely taxonomical questions, such as whether the same authors do or don't write fantasy and SF, or whether there's some kind of fundamental narrative difference between the two genres. For bookstores, none of that matters anywhere near as much as simple customer behavior. As an emergent property of the practice of actual readers, bookstore categories amount to a serious answer to a whole lot of critical wheelspinning.
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Do you mean in Bookstores or Libraries?
In bookstores there is not enough SF to put in its own section, also one has to account for blurry novels between the two.
Also in bookstores what is usually split off is series books like Star Wars and Star Trek.
In libraries there is usually so little room for fiction that all fiction is interfiled with sometimes genre spine labels.
Re: Do you mean in Bookstores or Libraries?
Re: Do you mean in Bookstores or Libraries?
You sometimes see genre spine lables but this is not always complete or accurate.
I try to make up book marks of SF.
Maybe Stilyagi/Confusion could make up book mark sized flyers to leave at local libraries and book stores.
Re: Do you mean in Bookstores or Libraries?
which is part of why it's crazy that they do it at our library.
Re: Do you mean in Bookstores or Libraries?
One of our branches did seperate out genres then gave it up when they ran out of room.
no subject
no subject
As a librarian and a reader studies researcher, I have to say there is not one answer, but that whatever mechanism is used for large scale organization, a) it must be made explicit, b) alternate modes of access must be available for directed searching, and c) aids must be provided for browsing.
Personally, it does not really matter a bunch to me as long as I can easily find the appropriate section.
no subject
(As I remarked this past weekend, the reason bookstore categories exist is simple and fundamental: it's because customers don't want to have to dig through a giant pyramid of books in the middle of the floor.)
I imagine libraries might be more interested in purely taxonomical questions, such as whether the same authors do or don't write fantasy and SF, or whether there's some kind of fundamental narrative difference between the two genres. For bookstores, none of that matters anywhere near as much as simple customer behavior. As an emergent property of the practice of actual readers, bookstore categories amount to a serious answer to a whole lot of critical wheelspinning.