[Publib] when does fiction become literature?

[Dale McNeill]

Hello Cynthia--

I'll jump in here....

Most libraries don't move fiction.  They either class all fiction as, well,
fiction.  Or, if the collection has a research focus, they class everything
in the 800s (or the LoC classes that apply in the P schedule).

However, I once worked at a small library in Oklahoma that did something a
bit different.  If the primary purpose for purchasing a book was for school
assignments, it was classed in the 800s with its criticism and the
biographies of that author (we classed all biographies of authors in the
800s and of singers and actors in the 700s).  At least one copy of the book
was classed in fiction as well.

This worked very well for us and was way back in the days of card catalogs,
so looking up call numbers took a bit more effort.

I think each library has to think about how books are used in each
community.  That's the best way to determine how and where to shelve
materials to get maximum use from the collection and to serve the library
customers/patrons/users and to save their time.

Since then, I've worked in very large libraries.  There is no way for a
library system with many branches or members to much such nuanced
decisions.  Nor are resources available, generally, to reclassify materials,
even when the DDC does a "phoenix" schedule (meaning that the classification
numbers for that section applied before the phoenix schedule will no longer
make any browsing sense when combined with the classification numbers
applied after the schedule.  Large libraries simply let time and weeding
take care of that.

Regards,

Dale


On 10/2/07, cynthia organ <bsblcynthia at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> At what point do you move fiction books (Sinclair Lewis, James Joyce for
> example) to the 800s, literature?
>
> Many thanks!
>
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