[Publib] Dewey or Don't We

[BookBitch]

Just a quick comment - having worked for several years in a bookstore, and then a library, it's been my experience that the people who have the most difficulty in finding what they want in a bookstore are librarians.
 
That said, a book that addressed this, at least in part, is EVERYTHING IS MISCELLANEOUS: The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger.   My review--
 
People like to ask me about books - I've been asked to name my favorite books, the books I would take to a desert island, and the books that have changed my life.  My favorites change from year to year, I would need an entire cruise ship to fill with enough books to sustain me on a desert island, and while books in general have changed my life, I've never had any sort of epiphany while reading, at least not that I can recall.  Until now.  Reading Everything is Miscellaneous gave me my moment.  It was a "EUREKA" moment, rather like that lovely story about Archimedes in the bathtub.  Lest you think I've completely taken leave of my senses, let me get down to it.
This is a book about many things, but what I am focusing on here is organization.  Specifically, the organization of books, in a library.  95% of all public libraries use the Dewey Decimal System, which has worked reasonably well for quite a long while.  Other libraries use a different classification system culled from the Library of Congress, while bookstores tend to use something called BISAC, the Book Industry Standards and Communications.  But what Mr. Weinberger wonders is this: if we have computers and are using them, why are we limiting ourselves to such specifics? And it made me wonder too. Yes, books need a specific place on the shelf, but we can look for books, search for books, in other ways that have nothing to do with the physical location of the book, but rather with the need of the reader.  [OPACs rarely allow this]
But that's only a small part of this fascinating book.  Weinberger examines how Google has changed our lives, the wonder of Wikipedia, looks at the business model of the digital music industry and what it portends for the future of all businesses, and even why Staples is so successful.  I read this book several months ago, and have just reread it, and I may have to read it yet again. 
 
Stacy Alesi
Library Name *Censored*
Boca Raton, Florida
& MLIS student @ University of South Florida

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--- On Wed, 1/7/09, amkleiman1 at aol.com <amkleiman1 at aol.com> wrote:


From: amkleiman1 at aol.com <amkleiman1 at aol.com>
Subject: [Publib] Dewey or Don't We
To: publib at webjunction.org
Date: Wednesday, January 7, 2009, 11:52 PM


Greetings--

It is interesting to read the threads on the Dewey vs. Non-Dewey scheme.  In my opinion, I think
that the Florida politician got a few facts confused.  It may be that she read that several of the Maricopa
County AZ libraries had gone Deweyless and presumed they did not classify their items, thus saving money. Which is not true, of course.  This entire scenario reminded me of customers who wish to challenge books in our collection and often have never read the book.  I do wonder if she uses her local library?

But the issue of going BISAC is not new.  When I worked at the Brooklyn Public Library our Cortelyou Branch opened as a non-Dewey library.  That was almost twenty years ago.  When I moved on as the Coordinator of Adult Services at the Queens Library, most of our branches were merchandised, and in essence appeared "Deweyless" to our customers.  There are several projects in Central New Jersey that
are doing that as well and I was Project Manager for one of them.  It works! And Maricopa is expanding their concept to additional branches of their library system.

For me it's not Dewey or LC or that BISAC is better.  Going Deweyless creates a more comfortable,
browsable atmosphere for our customers. They no longer feel that they must come over to the desk to find a book.  Our OPACS are no help! They are less than customer friendly. By using BISAC, we have now empowered them with the non-fiction collection in the same way that long ago we empowered them with our fiction collections.  Customers can easily browse in Mystery, Science Fiction or Romance since we have those areas clearly designated but often feel "stupid" when it come to the rest of the library. Why do we continue to do that?

In our 21th century libraries where we are attempting to put the library on the map and make it a place of destination for our customers, isn't it time to re-think how we arrange our libraries and our collections?  We are still trying to put our 21th century library into a 19th century arrangement.  So, what I am suggesting is that isn't it time to make our libraries a place that our community wants to use and is not afraid of.  That's why they "love" bookstores so much! I think that DDC or LC are barriers that need to be examined as we adapt our libraries to a changing world and not have the world adapt to our static libraries.

I would love to see articles or a book on this topic emerge this year.  Let the debate begin!  This is a fantastic topic that needs further exploration.

Thanks,
--Allan
Allan M. Kleiman
Library Consultants-at-Large
Offering Over 40 Years of Library Experience
Fords, NJ 08863
Tel:  732-738-5183
E-mail: amkleiman1 at aol.com; allanmkleiman at aol.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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