Cracking the Code: Beyond Dewey
- moving from Dewey system to word-based systems - changing the way you think - think the way customers think - it's about where people will find books
Molly Moyer - moving from public library model to bookstore
Bookstore - customer based organization (have to listen to how people ask for things and reduce the barriers that keep customers from what they want). Criteria for location - is a book selling where it is? If not - move it. Example: true crime moved from mystery to law section. To market materials - instead of read-a-likes - they do "shelf-talkers."
Marshall Shore (Maricopa)
Third Place Elements - distinct from work or home, liberating free space, playful - no Dewey came from this. Elements that he looked at were shelving, display, furniture, signage and collection. They had a Costco type building, so they used end panel wraps to showcase subjects, theatrical gels to highlight areas, but also used shelving on wheels so they could change the space as they wanted. They also did a lot of things we already do (comfy chanirs, slatwall, merchandising, etc. ) DEWEY - they moved away from Dewey and used subjects and neighborhoods and shelve by title - neighborhood (HEALTH), subject (DIET), then shelved by title. There is a call number label on each book that would read (HEALTH then DIET).
Rachel Fewell - Anythink Libraries
WordThink Grid - Neighborhood is RELATIONSHIPS and subject are DATING, ABUSE, DIVORCE, FAMILY, MARRIAGE, SEX, WEDDINGS. In the catalog, the call number says "business." Business Industry Standard and Communication (BISEC). The upside to this is - like items live together (books with like subjects are within proximity but also nonfiction DVDs can be interfiled). The downside is - where do things go?
This is time-consuming - having to change every item. They use Horizon so they put the new "call number" into the notes field, then used SQL to move from that field into the 082 field when they were ready to flip the switch. Biography, History, Places, Technology & Transportation, Science, Parenting, Art, Sports, Life Issues, Animals and Pets, Crafts Cooking Gardening and Reference, Math Careers Government and Law, Curiosity and Humor are their neighborhoods. They wanted to create nooks, not traditional shelving.
All in all this was very interesting, and definitely something I am going to think about. The question is - what do you think???
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I was also at this program and an glad I went since I think the idea of no Dewey is interesting and wanted to see some actual pictures and examples of what it looked like. I would certainly like to try a wordless organizing system some day. There appear to some things we could try sooner rather than later, and some things we already do - merchandizing, good signage.
ReplyDeleteHearing how Rangeview shut down their libraries to convert them to Deweyless reminded me of the opening of VG and AR after the remodel. There was a TON of work to do in a very short amount of time. Everybody had to be handling books, putting on spines labels, changing catalog records, etc. It all sounded very intense and physically demanding - but rewarding when you reopen with a totally reorganized, very customer-centered library!
Something that stood out was the fact that since Deweyless organizing relies on subject neighborhoods, our current set up of rows and rows would have to be reconfigured somewhat to physically make up the neighborhoods. We'd want to physically separate the nonfiction, for example, into the various subject areas, more like a bookstore. Again, I believe it's something we can move toward and look forward to talking with people about ways we might work with some of these ideas right now.
One question that came up at the end was if you have a more "traditional" library that had tall bookshelves in long ranges, would you go deweyless.
ReplyDeleteOne of the speakers (Maricopa) basically said that it would be very difficult to do the deweyless layout in that you indeed needed lots of physical separation between the word groups.
But another speaker said that if you weeded out enough old stuff, you could create the necessary space. Another by-product of going deweyless was that circulation at the libraries dramatically increased. I think one thing we have learned is that circulation of items on the powerwalls or portable displays definitely go up.
This is definitely something that is worth talking about. It would indeed require a lot of thought (although closing the libraries just to do the conversion probably wouldn't happen). Personally speaking, I have no attachment to Dewey so if it went, I would be the first one to wave bye-bye...
From a customer perspective I like the idea - I think that patrons would find it appealing and easier to browse for materials.
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with exactly how Deweyless cataloging would work, but it would be important to have a system that would make it easy to quickly find specific titles when requested, versus having to do a lengthy search for each such request.
I also attended this program, the room was absolutely packed. What I noticed most was how accepting the audience seemed to be of the Deweyless concept. I remember attending a program at another conference where the discussion became quite heated over doing away with Dewey. This time around, the Q & A session was very calm, and attendees seemed to mostly want to know how to implement this type of library. There was an issue on how to arrange world languages by word subject rather than number. I don't think the answer was very satisfactory on how they are approaching the Spanish nonfiction. But overall, the info given was very practical, and the goal is in creating a customer centered library, where people feel empowered and self-sufficient, rather than stupid because they can't crack the Dewey code.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of going partly non-Dewey, at least until the day we have enough space for a completely Deweyless library. We could have areas or "islands" for the big Deweyless subjects like gardening, biographies, pets, etc. and keep the rest as is. I agree with Robert - I have no strong attachments to Dewey and could live without it. Good name for a cat, though.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of creating neighborhoods and grouping like subjects together. I think we've moved into this direction a little by removing certain collection areas out of the nonfiction aisles in children's (ie State, Mission and Native American books)and creating power walls.
ReplyDelete