I think we need to remember that Dewey just gives us an address, or
location, for materials. Sears gives us the subject headings. The Dewey
classification system allows us to group materials with similar subject
matter together. We can get as broad or as detailed as we wish. My 200's
section, for example, consists of 60 books that fit on one shelf. I
probably wouldn't have to even include any number past the decimal if I
didn't want to, and the books would still be easily found. Actually, I
could probably just put them all as 200 and they would be found as
quickly, but that's because there is such a small number of books to
look at. Contrast that with the 900's, with 13 shelves (most packed to
overflowing and due for some serious weeding) plus eight more shelves of
biographies. Numbers to the right of the decimal point are necessary.
If one were to be willing to forgo the browsing that Dewey or LC
provide, materials could simply be shelved by accession number. That
would provide a couple of advantages in that shelves could be filled
nearly to capacity, leaving only sufficient space to make removal and
reshelving easy, and weeding of old materials would be very easy - just
start at the beginning. It would also make it easy for someone to find
the most up-to-date item on the subject, since it would be the one with
the highest barcode number.
Obviously, my "suggestion" isn't a very practical one, since finding
several books could send the searcher running all over the library, and
as I said, would preclude browsing the subject. My point is that as long
as a patron has a way of finding out where a particular item ought to be
we have accomplished that part of our job. After all, the particular
book that someone really wants may already be on loan to another patron,
and no shelving scheme is going to make the book magically reappear on
the shelf! The patron will simply have to wait until the book is
returned or else use something else.
As I recall, this thread got started by someone mentioning that some
libraries are using a bookstore model of shelving materials by broad
categories, rather than by specific subjects. As long as I can find some
way to the book, I really don't care how the books are arranged on the
shelves. Put them in rainbow order (I've heard stories about that
actually happening!), arrange them by size, or whatever you want. Just
let me have a way to find out if the library has the title and where I
might go to look for it. I'm perfectly capable of looking at signs and
spine labels.
Humorous story: Many years ago, when I was getting my Master's, the
University campus in general and the library in particular were
undergoing major electrical renovation. That renovation required
frequent loss of electricity in the building at announced and
unannounced times. On one of the unannounced times a group of
undergraduate students were busy looking for information in the OPAC.
They were bemoaning the fact that now they couldn't find any books. I
walked up to them and told them to follow me. I led them to the card
catalog (yes, a real one). A large sign on it advised everyone that it
hadn't been updated in a few years. They pointed that fact out to me,
and I asked if there were books on their subject back then. They all
agreed that there were, and I told them that the new books would be
shelved right along with the old ones. All they had to do was find the
call number of their desired subject and go there to see what might
actually interest them. They all happily dug into the old cards, and I
made my escape before they realized that all of the books were upstairs
- where there were no windows!
--
David Lininger, kb0zke,
MS/HS librarian
Hickory County R-1 Schools
Urbana, MO 65767
417-993-4226
tss003 at tnp dot more dot net
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