This came in my Numlock newsletter this morning (a newsletter that contains interesting stats):
Some libraries have experimented with ditching the rigid, and at times antiquated, organizational principles of the Dewey Decimal System in favor of taking a page out of retailers’ playbooks and organizing their shelves as one would a bookstore. Deschutes County, Oregon recently overhauled its library system and experimented with shifting up the organizational structure of its stacks in a pilot program to significant success. It started in 2017, when librarians reclassified the children’s picture books, moving from alphabetizing by author name and toward topic-based classification, a move that increased circulation by 20 percent. When they reorganized the law library, they notched a 10 percent jump in circulation. After those successful pilots, the library rolled out the initiative system-wide to great effect: The average circulation checked out at any given time jumped from a Dewey average of 20 percent to almost 30 percent, with the circulation for adult nonfiction benefiting the most, rising from 15 percent to 27 percent thanks to the change.
All I can say is “Eeeeek!” BookBrowse reviewed a book (publishing September 1st) a week ago that immediately went on my “buy ASAP” list. In the bookstore, I first checked the most logical location: new non-fiction (nope), then WWII history (nope) then biography (nope). The help desk rechecked place I searched and came up empty too.
Kim, I can see what you described working great when I just want to browse and find something different or that’s not gotten a lot of press. In fact, I’ve found some great books that way. Maybe I’m just a bit too structured to say “Yes, please get rid of Dewey!”
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Yes to everything you said. I hate going into the bookstore and not being able to find a book without calling on staff for help. I would absolutely hate going to the library and having that experience. Seems like it would be difficult for libraries to account for missing books and how would they ever train volunteers? I live in a library system that has a huge contingent of volunteer workers and their primary responsibility is shelving. I’m sure there is some system: color coding, a non-dewey numerical, or some other that I can’t think of. Mostly just no!
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Nearly 15 years ago, the (misguided) director of the public library where I worked decided patrons couldn’t find books because the Dewey Decimal System was too difficult to understand (I think that was just her) so she switched the collection to a bookstore model. Our circulation hadn’t been dropping until then. No one, including staff–had any idea where the non-fiction books were. It was a horrible mess. Fortunately, she retired a couple of years later and the new director (promoted from within) quickly reversed things and we went back to Dewey & patrons were so happy (staff w too). Perhaps if it had been thought out more, it might have worked but Dewey numbers aren’t set in stone–it’s not like there’s library police checking every collection to make sure they’ve assigned the “correct” number to a title. Librarians have discretion & smart ones use it to make books easier for everyone to find. Maybe update the Dewey Decimal System but get rid of it? I think not.
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