Sarah,
What concerns me the most is that I think there is an educative component in Dewey that is being lost.
It seems to me that the purpose of all libraries, in one sense or another, to one degree or another, is to
-comprehensively take account of...
-systematically organize...
-and thereby make increasingly accessible / findable...
knowledge of the world for the world - and of course doing so in a timely manner.
In addition, I believe *all* of these steps, in fact, help the user to learn about the world.
I think the Dewey system, though imperfect, exemplifies this.
Again, LCSH classification and subject headings do the same thing. While I think Karen's musings about Prof. Burke's wish list are excellent and ought to be pursued with vigor, I wonder if in addition to the advantages of LCSH's faceted searching (now finally being exploited and appreciated by folks like Andrew Pace, Erik Hatcher, etc.), we have considered enough the "guaranteed serendipity" that results when one explores the holistic web of interconnectivity and interdisciplinarity formed by linked vocabulary-controlled subject headings.
And bring on the tags as well!
Nathan Rinne
Media Cataloging Technician
ISD 279 - Educational Service Center (ESC)
11200 93rd Ave. North
Maple Grove, MN. 55369
Work phone: 763-391-7183
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Simpson, Sarah
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 3:14 PM
To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Prof. Burke's wish list
I'm interested in how this works out, too. I am assuming this is a small branch of the library. Our cookbook section, for one example) takes up an awful lot of real estate - I would hate to be looking for one particular book without a good identifier. I am very curious about how shelving and paging will work. It's great for browsing, but it seems like it will cause difficulties with getting the one book you are actually looking for. Still, if the branch is small enough that their sections aren't any bigger than those at Borders, it may work well for them.
I'm also curious about labeling/classification - it seems like they will still need some sort of system. History books run from 930 to 990 and take up a LOT of space - here at our Central Library, we have almost 12,000 items in the 900s. It seems like someone would have to still assign some sort of classification - Russian history, American history (still an immense section), and so on. I hope they put something up on the Web or publish something so we can get a look at what they are doing!
Sarah Simpson
Technical Services Manager
Tulsa City-County Library
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Stephens Owen
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 3:02 PM
To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Prof. Burke's wish list
> Nathan wrote:
> It will be interesting to see if the following incident gives birth to
> others:
>
> http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0530nodewey0530.html
>
> --------
> There are a couple of things here. Firstly, it seems as if this is a public
> library. Išve never worked in a public library, so I canšt comment from that
> side of the counter, but I do use my local public library a lot, and I can
> safely say that the fact the library uses Dewey is completely irrelevant to
> me. The collection is too small to need anything more than a cursory system
> for ordering books on the shelf, and I know the sections I use regularly so
> well I donšt really need a guide.
>
Received on Thu May 31 2007 - 14:50:57 EDT