swatkat

Earlier this year I worked in a second hand bookshop, and learned something v. interesting. There were separate sections for "Science Fantasy" and "Sci-Fi". SFF fans would be appalled, but the division made sense, because people who read fantasy epics were also likely to want to read space opera epics. "Chick Lit" didn't go with the Romance books, but with the General novels. Similarly, there was an "Australian" section with all kinds of fiction, but when we shifted the Australian crime novels to the Crime section, they started moving. So the categories that make instinctive sense don't necessarily work in practice. My guess is the bookshop you visited knows who Austen is, but also knows that romance readers won't browse in the Licherachur section. (Mind you, students etc looking for Austen probably won't be able to find her!)