Library skills ks1 - help1

[LaBelleDameSansPatience]

I have to take groups of KS1 children to the library and introduce them to library skills. I really don't quite know what to do - any ideas? the library is quite badly organised, with huge categories all together, colour coded with lots of different subjects all lumped into one code and I have no authority to change it (although I will make gentle suggestions when I can).

Why not extend the usual KS1 discussion of fiction and non-fiction during your tour? Give each child a blank piece of paper on which they can record ten books that they found listed either under fiction or non fiction.

(If you have time and space for a sitdown discussion later, ask the children how easy they found finding books which they wanted (on any subject) ask children who put their hands up, which books they found, preferred, looked for and couldn't find, whether or not they can imagine how they might have found things easier.)

doesn't sound a very good library. I spent many of my teenage years helping stick dewey system numbers on library books for my mum's primary school. I thought all schools used the dewey system? this was a very deprived area state school.

It sounds a terrible library. Given it is in a state and Dewey is not being used I would do the following:
discuss the difference between fiction and non-fiction - look at indexes, contents pages etc.
Get the children to separate piles of books into fiction and non-fiction.
Talk about how fiction should be in alphabetical order by authors surname. Get them to pretend to be books on a shelf by putting themselves in alphabetical order. You can then emphasise the need to put books back in the right place.
Mention that NF books are split by subject but don't go into any great detail - just use the supermarket analogy ie in Tescos all the fruits are together, all the biscuits are together and it's the same in a library - all the books on sports should be together. etc
Finish up with discussing looking after books and with a story to whet their appetites to come back.

I can give you more if you need it
Crusoe

Brilliant ideas, Crusoe.
Not my library, so no influence. It is organised by a TA who has a dozen other things for which she is responsible and it is the year 6 children who actually make the decisions and sort the books.
It is organised with the dewy system (sort of), it's just that some of the titles are wrong and the categories are far too big. Encyclopaedias filed under 'ICT' for example, which I think do actually come under the same dewy classification, but impossible for ks1 to follow, as is a heading such as 'the arts', where they can find books on music, composers, art and craft, ballet, etc.
I will definitely do the book separating and maybe some nf sorting this week, then maybe alphabet work next week ... I knew that mners would have ideas!

hmm I think it seriously needs sorting out. Yr6 children are more than capable of using the dewey system properly to classify the books (I was doing it from the age of 10 in the evenings with my mum to sort out the library in her school)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dewey_Decimal_classes

Other children can't learn effective library skills if the library is a bit random. All books should be labelled properly with the appropriate number and then arranged as such. if they want to then have some other signage system then fine but my mum's primary school worked perfectly well with a chart on the wall of the numbers and the kids learned to look properly.