[LM_NET] FICTION sorted only by the first three letters of an AUTHOR's name?

[Katie Day <day.katie@GMAIL.COM>]

I'd like to ask a small question about shelving conventions regarding
FICTION sorted by AUTHOR.

How many libraries -- either public or school -- have you seen which shelve
novels by just the first three letters of the author's last name (e.g., by
the three letters printed on the spine label), such that books by the same
author are not necessarily located next to each other on the shelves?

For example, in the "WIL" section of the junior fiction, this might result
in the books by Laura Ingalls WILder being all mixed up with books by
Jacqueline WILson and Nancy WILlard and Jeanne WILlis and Laura WILliams and
Jay WILliams and Margaret WILd, etc..  No attempt is made to sort by
individual authors.  The first three letters are considered sufficient.

This is how it's done at the National Library of Singapore for both their
adult and children's books, and I've never observed it at any other library
before.

While it makes the re-shelving and shelf reading tasks much easier for
staff, it makes it much harder for patrons to determine which books by a
particular author are available -- as you have to search through the entire
stretch of books with the same three-letter author prefix (whether "WIL",
"BRO", "CAT", etc.) -- which in a big branch might flow over several
shelves.

(Yes, I have seen picture book collections sorted by just the first letter
of the author's name, e.g., the "A" bin, the "B" bin, but I'm talking about
major collections of novels.)

Just curious if this is not that unusual...

-- Katie

=================
Katie Day
katie.appleton.day@gmail.com
Singapore

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