[Publib] It's a fiction that there's fiction in Dewey

[kferrier at grpl.org]

I always tell my patrons, " Fiction is stories and Non fiction is
NOT-stories."  It's easier to explain than trying to explain why Poetry is
in the "true" section.

-Kayne L. Ferrier
Librarian/ Branch Manager
Grand Rapids Public Library
Yankee Clipper Branch



On Mon, March 5, 2007 5:45 pm, Nann Blaine Hilyard wrote:
> When I was in grade school I wondered that, if non-fiction is true and
> fiction is not-true, then why are fairy tales in the non-fiction?  And if
> Laura Ingalls Wilder's books are the story of her childhood, why
> aren't they in the biography section?    (I now know the reasons for both,
> but no one explained it to me then.)
>
> Didn't we classify Alex Haley's "Roots" in 920 when it first came out?
>
>
> Nann
> @ZBPL
> (yes, I've read "The Ghost in the Little House," about Rose Wilder
> Lane's 'assistance' with her mother's books)
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
>
> From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
> [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Dale McNeill
> Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 4:21 PM
> To: Peter Bromberg, SJRLC
> Cc: publib at webjunction.org
> Subject: Re: [Publib] It's a fiction that there's fiction in Dewey
>
>
>
> I think we (librarians) and teachers need to do a better job in general
> of expalain "fiction" and "non-fiction".  I've heard (as a customer) quite
> a few lessons and tours in which a librarian or teacher says something
> like "non-fcition books are true".  At some philosophical level, that
> might be true, but there are an awfully lot of books (and other materials)
> in classified as non-fiction that aren't "factual". There are plenty of
> examples in most libraries in the 800s. But there are also many books that
> are not "factually" true, though the author may believe them to be true.
> Or books that were "true" when written, but
> are no longer so.  I've always tried to say something like "in this library
> we put novels and short story collections in "fiction"; everything else is
> "non-fiction".  And then I talk about humor, comic
> books, plays, and so forth.  Once one has learned "non-fiction is true"
> it's hard to unlearn it!
>
> Dale
>
>
>
> On 3/5/07, Peter Bromberg, SJRLC <bromberg at sjrlc.org> wrote:
>
>
> It's a fiction that there's no fiction in Dewey, and that's a
> fact.  (Or should I say it's a non-fiction...?)
>
> Anyhoo, according to the OCLC Dewey Summaries posted at:
>
>
> http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/deweysummaries.pdf, 813 is
> reserved for "American fiction in English". <snip>
>
>
>
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