Having been both an elementary and a secondary school librarian, I have to
disagree that two digits beyond the decimal point are sufficient for
secondary libraries. Certainly there are sections that don't need more than
two, but in areas where we have large holdings, we need the differentiation
provided by the longer number. For example, we have a large number books
about Native Americans. I have separated them by geographic region using
970.4____ so that we don't have 8 shelves of 970.1 or 970.00497. Even
though this isn't the preferred placement, it works for our collection and
some of the call numbers have 3 or 4 digits beyond the decimal point. Also,
limiting to two decimals doesn't always make sense. What good would it do to
change 970.00497 to 970.00? Might as well put it in 970.... :)
To address the original question: when a call number is too long to fit
horizontally on the spine and be read in its entirety, we put it on
vertically with the print running from top to bottom (like the printing on
the spine of the book). This solves the problem completely for us. Since we
use the authors entire last name, we often do this to accommodate the cutter
and not the actual number or Fic.
My two cents for this morning, :)
Julie
Julie Anderson, Librarian
Liberty High School, Renton, WA 425.837.4901
andersonj@issaquah.wednet.edu
"So lend your voices only to sounds of freedom. No longer lend your strength
to that which you wish to be free from. Fill your life with love and bravery
and you shall lead a life uncommon." Jewel Kilcher
-----Original Message-----
From: Sharron L. McElmeel [mailto:mcelmeel@MCELMEEL.COM]
Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2002 11:26 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: TARGET: Spine Labels
I made it a practice to use only the two digit extensions beyond the
decimal point. In most elementary (and dare I say secondary)
libraries the collections were not so extensive that more than 2
digits were necessary. Since most books came in with call numbers
written in too small print anyway we always retagged new books with
large print call letters and took that opportunity to edit the call
numbers to the two digits. With the electronic catalog the change in
the records was only a 2 second job. ;>)
Busy schedules are not unusual and it seems that prioritizing duties
is a must -- we must be careful that the priority does not go to the
expedient but rather goes toward being a proactive advocate for
reading and literacy. ;>)
Sharron
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