Just Un-Dewey It

I know, I know, Dewey is already categorized, so we don't need to do anything with our non-fiction books. But, can the kids really tell where each classification starts and ends? If not, our collection isn't very user friendly.

I've been struggling with the choice over un-Dewey-ing my collection for quite a while. Last year, I couldn't take it any longer, and I pulled all the graphic novels out of the nonfiction. Something about nonfiction novels bothered me.

But what about the kids who ask, "Do you have any books on war?"

"Well yes, of course we do. We have historical books in the 900s, and books about weapons in the 600s, and books on the effects of war in the 300s. What were you looking for?"

"Um..., never-mind."

That was before.

Now we just refer them to the Weapons and War section, and they can find the book they are interested in. And, it seems to be working. Between the first day of school and the last day of October last year, we checked out 3,279 books. This year, we have circulated 4,642. Sure, there may be other circumstances that are effecting these numbers, but I believe the fact that kids know where to find what they want is helping.

Of course, I keep hearing, "But we have to teach them how to use the catalog, and...

I'm not saying there is no value in that (and our kids still use the catalog, by the way), but once they get out of public school, they will have to use a whole new system anyway. Colleges use Library of Congress cataloging.

Where else does a person have to search through an almost endless list of numbers to find something? That's just not the way we do things anymore. We use headings and placeholders. And yes, Dewey has those things, but they aren't obvious.

I could have just made signs and divided Dewey, but then I still have that issue of, "Do you have any books on war?" This was a good bit of work, but I like it, and better yet, the kids really like it.

Up next: generification!