Libraries Some time, though not an eternity ago, I suggested that local libraries could reorganise themselves around the geography and display format of bookshops in order to survive. Although I talked about the arrangement of the books, I didn't mention the classification system which as far as I could tell would have to remain.
Now comes the news that a library in Arizona is doing away with the Dewey Decimal Classification system altogether and 'tens of thousands of books in the Perry Branch library will be shelved by topic, similar to the way bookstores arrange books (because) it's just too confusing for people to hunt down books using those long strings of numbers and letters.'
I've always found Dewey easy to use when finding materials but when I have worked in libraries and been cataloguing items there have been issues related to how some books might be labeled -- should a book about Shakespeare on film be put on the literature, theatre or cinema shelves? Under the Arizona method you'd probably have three copies, one for each area of the library.
I can't imagine this would work for all institutions, especially those in which it's important for someone to be able to find an item for study purposes. But for places in which the majority of the users browse it seems perfect. I wonder if it will catch on.
3 comments:
I don't see anything in this scheme that would help the public that have presumably been identified, tagged, hunted down and ruthlessly interrogated in order to find out why they don't use libraries. It's merely swapping one classification system for another, in this case one that, if you could understand it, worked over multiple locations (all libraries that used Dewey) to one that requires you have to have more extensive knowledge of the layout of each single library that uses it.
If people don't want to ask for help in a library that uses Dewey I don't think organising by subject is going to do much good for them, and besides, Dewey is a subject classification so it's not that big a leap.
Is it that obvious that I'm a librarian?
I can see where you are coming from and I do believe that Libraries and Librarians have much to learn about marketing their stock and frankly themselves from retailers, however in my experience whatever you do to organise stock, people will always need assistance to find what they want.
Thanks for commenting. I suppose the idea is to put people at ease when the enter a library but I do think that doing away with DDC is a step too far.
By the way, Sarah -- have we met?
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