Before flip-through shelving was as prevalent as it is now becoming, many libraries used similar lower end or more affordable concepts to great effect to achieve the same ends. This may have included plastic bins that were color-coded by author or category, e.g. yellow bins contain authors A-E, blue bins contain authors F-L, etc. or yellow bins contain all board books about animals, blue bins contain all books about the alphabet, etc.

Often, caregivers and children will gravitate towards books based on the appearance of the cover; let’s admit it: we’re all guilty of judging books by their covers! Allowing them to easily see the covers and even more easily flip-through many titles quickly allows them to find their selections in minimal time and with minimal effort.