Genre Headings

On Despising Genres by Ursula K. LeGuin offers some food for thought concerning the use of genre headings and sections in libraries and bookstores. Do we separate the "good" from the "popular" fiction? Do we use it as a finding tool, as we should or as a rating system. Is the Ox Bow Incident in literature but the others in Westerns? Do we add a 655 to the latter but not the former? LeGuin is one of my favorite authors, so it was a pleasure to find this. Thanks to Rory at Library Juice for bring this to my attention.