[Norton AntiSpam] [Publib] Re: Good-bye to Dewey

[Sue Kamm]

It's not so much that we expected them to learn our system; it's what they were taught (assuming, of course, their teachers offered the rudiments of research <g>)  

As for following a bookstore model:  How many times have we gone into a bookstore (or a supermarket, or drugstore - name your retail) and found everthing's been moved around?  

When there's shifting in a libraqry, the books still have to follow a pattern.  We don't (for example) suddenly move all the sports books next to a history section.  In the library where I work, we have set aside specialized reference resources. - business, law, consumer information, taxation, and - since we have a large African American population - a collection of reference books in all classification numbers that deal with the African American experience.

Our special collections are labeled on the spine, and noted in the catalog.

Your friendly neighborhood CyberGoddess and re-elected ALA Councilor at Large, 
Sue Kamm
Email: suekamm[at]mindspring.com
Los Angeles Dodgers Truest of the Blue, 2000
Visit my blog: http://suekamm.blogspot.com
Thanks to all who voted for me!


----- Original Message ----- 
From: 
To: publib at webjunction.org
Sent: 6/1/2007 8:50:56 AM 
Subject: [Norton AntiSpam] [Publib] Re: Good-bye to Dewey



>As librarians, we're attached to DDC. We want our patrons to learn it.>
>They come into our libraries and we expect them to learn our way of
>ordering things. Frankly, I think that makes us assholes. 

Of course they don't care.  But that doesn't mean it doesn't work.  We don't expect our customers to learn dewey, we just expect them to be able to count.  They look up the book, or we look up the book.  The number is given and you go to the spot.  It doesn't require in-depth knowledge of Dewey, just an ability to numerize.  I'm not married to DDC, but there's not much out there better.  What really helps is signage of the subject areas that let's people know what types of books are there. 

As for bookstores, I used to work in one and it sucked.  The public could not find what they needed and the staff was, for the most part, not as knowledgeable as the average librarian.  Books were a product, period. The could have just as easily been selling shoes. 


Matthew R. Williams
Library Director 
Kearney Public Library
2020 1st Ave.
Kearney, NE 68847
(308) 233-3280 
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