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

[Thomas Kaun <tomkaun@YAHOO.COM>]

Hi, Katie.
In my district's libraries we have traditionally used the entire last name of the 
author for all items -- fiction and non-fiction (taking our cue from the local 
public library's practice). I actually take it one step further making the call 
number for each book unique.
E.g. <FIC Twain,M ADVh c.3> would be for the third copy of Mark Twin's Adventures 
of Huckleberry Finn. You'll notice the lower case "h" which in this case stands for 
"huckleberry" to distinguish it from "t" for the "tom" of Tom Sawyer since both 
titles start out as "The adventures of...".
The reason I do this is so that there is only one place on the shelf for every 
book. I really think it's confusing for patrons and shelvers alike if there is any 
question about where a book goes.
In most libraries the old Cutter system has gone out of style, but, of course, that 
is exactly what the Cutter number was meant for -- to distinguish each item on the 
shelf by author and title.
Btw, for my non-fiction books I only use the first three letters of the author's 
last name but I add the date as part of the call number which also helps 
distinguish one item from another. LC uses the date as part of the call number so I 
figure I can too.
Remember that call numbers are unique to your library collection so go ahead and 
make them as user-friendly as possible.
Tom Kaun
Library media teacher
Redwood High School
http://rhslibrary.org

----- Original Message ----
From: Katie Day <day.katie@GMAIL.COM>
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Sunday, June 4, 2006 7:29:57 AM
Subject: FICTION sorted only by the first three letters of an AUTHOR's name?

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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