Best Ways to Organize Your Classroom Library

I love my classroom library! It is no secret that I love books and I love sharing my love of books with my students throughout the year. Check out the various ways to organize your classroom library to encourage the love of reading in your students.

[rtoc_mokuji title=”” title_display=”” heading=”” list_h2_type=”” list_h3_type=”” display=”” frame_design=”” animation=””]

User Friendly Ways to Organize Your Classroom Library

However you set up your library, try to have some type of organizational structure to it instead of just a mass of books shoved on a shelf. There is no way anyone is going to find a love of reading in your room if you don’t give your library any love.

At the most basic, attempt an alphabetical organization by author. This way, if you have older students like I do, you can attempt to teach them the structure of reorganizing books alphabetically. I am not a huge fan of this idea, but it is better than a mash up of books on the shelf.

FYI: I only endorse things that I've personally used or have come highly recommended from my teacher friends and family and think they may be helpful to you. If you buy anything mentioned using my Amazon referral links, I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

I have seen some teachers use stickers for the spines of books to organize by genre. This is getting more specific and more helpful for students to find books in the genres that they prefer. If you have a fantasy lover, they know they will want to stay away from the realistic fiction section of your library.

My Preferred Classroom Library Organization

I love seeing the cover of a book, not the spine. So I have invested in some heavy duty baskets that allow my books to be organized by genre and author with the books faced out.

Heavy duty baskets hold all book genres in my classroom.

I love organizing my library this way for a few reasons.

It is easy for the students to flip through a variety of books to see which book/author might grab their attention.
The labels on the front of the baskets clearly indicate the genre of the books making it easier for students to grade what they want and easier for them to clean up.
The baskets come in a variety of sizes which makes organizing by genre easy to do. Harry Potter gets his own smaller sized basket, while my informational text basket is on the larger size to accommodate for the variety in text book sizes.

User Friendly Classroom Library Organization

I have some of my classroom library baskets organized by specific authors including:

Roald Dahl
Anthony Horrowitz
Gary Paulsen
Gordon Korman
Sarah Weeks
Sharon Creech
Jack Gantos
Beverly Cleary
Judy Blume
E.B. White
Rick Riordan
Margaret Peterson Haddix

I also have some classroom library baskets organized by series including:

School for Good and Evil
Land of Stories
Who Is?
I Survived
Harry Potter
Series of Unfortunate Events
Chronicles of Narnia
Whatever After
Junie B. Jones
Star Wars
The Descendants
Claudia Cristina Cortez
Jake Maddox

Finally I have some baskets organized by genre including:

Realistic Fiction
Fantasy
World War II
Dinosaurs
Fairy Tales
Scary Stories
Classics
STEM
Poetry
Movies Based Off of Books

What Books Do You Try To Stock in Your Classroom library?

This is a growing library and one that changes based off of what is popular from year to year. Series of Unfortunate events was really popular about 10-15 years ago, then had a resurgence in popularity about 5 years ago with the Netflix reboot of the series. It is great if you enjoy the books . . . Neil Patrick Harris is the best! Not as many students seem to be interested in grabbing these books the past few years though.

I used to have a big selection of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries. Over the years students forgot to return the books and my entire collection has been eliminated. I wouldn’t turn down a free donation of these books, but as they are the go to reads for all students in my area of the world, I am not in a rush to get them in front of student’s eyeballs.

Primary Books

You might also notice that I listed some more primary books like Junie B. Jones, Beverly Cleary and other ‘easier’ reads for a class of fifth grade students. I am happy to supply any books that students will actually read and enjoy. I don’t ever want to shame a student because something they like to read is too young for them. Students come in a variety of maturity levels and many 10 & 11 year old kids are still young kids at heart.

Scholastic Book Club

I take advantage of the Scholastic Book Club in my room. I love the book bonuses that are offered every time someone places a large order. It is a great way to get a decent quantity of new books into the classroom.

Small Publishers

Unfortunately many of the books that I like to purchase for my students are not available through the Scholastic Book Club. Jake Maddox and Claudia Cristina Cortez are great books for struggling readers but, I believe, they come from a small publisher which makes purchasing them anywhere other than Amazon difficult.

Separate Teacher Read Aloud Books

You will not be surprised to learn that I keep my teacher read aloud books separated from the books available for students to borrow from the classroom library. You can read about why I think Teacher Read Aloud are a crucial part of your teaching here.

Why Use Sterilite Baskets to Organize Your Classroom Library?

I have had a variety of vessels for holding my books over the years, but I have found these heavy-duty Sterilite baskets the best for holding up over the years. Some of these baskets are almost 10 years old and still look pretty good! I have had other baskets from the dollar store or other tupperwear like containers and unfortunately they haven’t held up over the years.

I am lucky enough to get a budget each year for my classroom and sometimes I spend some of the budget on baskets. What is nice is that they hold up so well that they are a worthwhile investment.

Do what works for your and is the most user friendly for your students.

How Do You Organize Your Classroom Library?

If you are interested in using labels for your classroom library, check out my Classroom Library Labels for Middle School & High School on my Teachers Pay Teachers store. The set includes popular genres and authors or you can use the editable version to create your own labels.

Make sure to label your classroom library books with your name. I write my last name on the inside cover of all of my personal classroom books. You could also buy something like these cute teacher book labels on Etsy. I also love these circle teacher book labels on Etsy as well. They look adorable and serve a functional purpose.

How have you set up your library? Do you have any go to purchases for your books? Any specific authors that you like to keep stocked in your classroom?