Monarch Method "Lite"
If you're not ready to make a total conversion yet- I get it.
Why not think about trying...
If you're not ready to make a total conversion yet- I get it.
Why not think about trying...
Three phases of the Monarch Method System:
Step One
Pull Manga out of Dewey 700s Literature. Put it in the front of the libray where it’s eye-
catching, draws the students in, and gets students interested in coming into the library
who may not be the high end users.
Step Two
Pull biographies out of Dewey Biography section and mix them in with subject sections.
We found that students were consistently having difficulty finding biographies for
research papers so this is one of the first changes we made. For example, a student is
assigned to find a biography of someone pivotal in the Civil War. They would have to
know ahead of time to look for Abraham Lincoln or Robert E. Lee or Harriet Tubman
and then try to find those among the hundreds of biographies on the shelves. Plus, they
could miss learning about someone who may not be as well-known that they might really
be interested in because they didn’t know to look for them. Now all of these biographies
are contained in a single Civil War section so it’s one trip to find everything they need.
Step Three
Mix Fiction and Non-Fiction sections. While this feels taboo, it follows the Amazon or
bookstore model that we are emulating. This model is what today’s students are used to.
When they are looking for a book on amazon.com, they type in the subject, i.e. “Soccer.”
From this one search they get non-fiction books about the World Cup, instruction
manuals about the game, biographies about players, and fiction stories where soccer is
the setting. This is exactly what we are trying to do with the Monarch Method – make
searching more modern and intuitive for today’s students.
Three phases of the Monarch Method System:
Step One
Pull Manga out of Dewey 700s Literature. Put it in the front of the libray where it’s eye-
catching, draws the students in, and gets students interested in coming into the library
who may not be the high end users.
Step Two
Pull biographies out of Dewey Biography section and mix them in with subject sections.
We found that students were consistently having difficulty finding biographies for
research papers so this is one of the first changes we made. For example, a student is
assigned to find a biography of someone pivotal in the Civil War. They would have to
know ahead of time to look for Abraham Lincoln or Robert E. Lee or Harriet Tubman
and then try to find those among the hundreds of biographies on the shelves. Plus, they
could miss learning about someone who may not be as well-known that they might really
be interested in because they didn’t know to look for them. Now all of these biographies
are contained in a single Civil War section so it’s one trip to find everything they need.
Step Three
Mix Fiction and Non-Fiction sections. While this feels taboo, it follows the Amazon or
bookstore model that we are emulating. This model is what today’s students are used to.
When they are looking for a book on amazon.com, they type in the subject, i.e. “Soccer.”
From this one search they get non-fiction books about the World Cup, instruction
manuals about the game, biographies about players, and fiction stories where soccer is
the setting. This is exactly what we are trying to do with the Monarch Method – make
searching more modern and intuitive for today’s students.