Dui, Dewey Decimal Decision

A long time ago in a state far, far away, a man named Melville Dewey was daydreaming during a church service... and came up with the decimal system for cataloging books that most public libraries use. Naturally, having worked in the library for a few months (not to mention the paper I wrote on him a few months ago in my first class of 'library school') - I appreciate his system, but a few things are throwing me some flags about the widespread use of his system.

It happened to me one day when I was shelving... J Nonfiction. Perhaps for a thesis I could do some research and take statistics on just what percentage of J NonFic books are accurately placed on the shelves. (Kids books are notoriously NOT in order.) But that's beside the point.

As I(try) to shelve the books in their proper order when the books on the shelf are disheveled, I began thinking, 'This is wasting my time...' (Ranganathan's five laws, anyone?) This system is not saving me time, dear Dewey.

OR take finding books patrons are looking for or have placed on hold. My first few times looking for holds meant finding the spot the book was supposed to be... and discovering the book wasn't there (childrens or otherwise). After a few times I learned not to take Dewey too seriously... If I look on the shelf the book is supposed to be on (but not in the exact location) there's generally a decent chance of finding the book (though it's out of order by a few places). It doesn't save me time to have it in a specific spot on the shelf.

So here's my curiosity as an incoming member of the profession... why do we give the books specific locations on the shelf? Perhaps it works in academic libraries, where people know enough about the system not to get the books out of order. But in the public library? Why not expand a book's home from being enslaved 'between this book(decimal) and that book' to, 'on the shelf with the other books in the 031.22's? I already look at all the books on the shelf when looking for a hold. We'd just be adapting our shelving with what actually happens to the order of books on the shelf.

Not to mention, my roommate who loves to read who doesn't understand how the dewey decimal system works. Maybe we need to do a lot more educating our patrons about our beloved 'decimal system' works. (I feel another blog post coming on..)

Or maybe we should change our system to something more intuitive to serve the people who are funding our paychecks. Maybe something along the way in library school will re-convert me to the wonders of Dewey's system... but then again, maybe those libraries going to bookstore format are on to something. And maybe they'd save this page's time when I'm shelving.