[Publib] RE: Publib Digest, Vol 46, Issue 4

[Jesse Ephraim]

>With categories how else are they shelved? If I am looking for a 
>specific book on dogs it is not that helpful to say 'here are the 
>animal books, it should be here somewhere'

A lot depends on the size of your collection and how most of your
patrons are using it.

In our case, the total number of items in our collection is no larger
than what you would find in B&N (small library in a small town).  If you
were to go to look at books on dog breeds and training, for example,
there is no more than one shelf of them.  Even the largest specific
subject areas of our collection - World War II, for example - don't take
up more than 10 short shelves, at most.  If we were to put all the books
in a particular subject area on the shelves in totally random order
(which we wouldn't, of course), I could still locate a particular one
within a few minutes, at most.

As our collection stands, there is no need to go out to the nth decimal
degree in Dewey numbers.  In fact, it can make the shelving more
confusing for the patrons if we do so.  The degree of specificity we
need can easily be done with more human-readable letter combinations.
When it comes to non-fiction books, most of our patrons do not come in
with a particular title in mind, unless it is on the bestseller lists.
They mostly like to browse our non-fiction collection, like you would in
a bookstore.  Specific requests are almost always for fiction books.

Our library is literally a two minute walk from a heavily trafficed B&N,
both in a very popular outdoor shopping center.  Our town is an affluent
suburb where most patrons can afford to simply buy the books they want,
if they choose.  Most of our patrons also patronize bookstores
frequently, and are very comfortable in that environment.  It is common
for them to tell us that they can always find what they want in B&N, but
have trouble with Dewey in the library.   

As I indicated before, our situation is unusual.  Not many public
libraries have dropped Dewey, so there is no good model for doing so -
we are having to be creative as we move forward.  The system we are
adopting is adapted for browsing, and would not be suitable for all
libraries, particularly larger ones.   Though we did look at BISAC when
coming up with our system, we did not adopt it wholesale.

(My opinions are my own, etc.).


Jesse Ephraim

Youth Services Librarian
Southlake Public Library
1400 Main St., Ste. 130
Southlake, TX  76092

Email:   jephraim at ci.southlake.tx.us
Phone: (817) 748-8248
FAX:    (817) 748-8250
www.southlakelibrary.org
uncommonly friendly service