"Neighboorhood" Libraries

It seems we hear a lot about whether libraries should do away with the whole Dewey thing and go wholeheartedly into a retail model of organization. Personally I cringe when I hear that because having worked in a book store I can see the drawbacks to no cataloging what so ever. I also know the feeling when a patron walks up to the reference desk, asks “Where’s your self help section?” and then looks at you like a crazy person when you send them to three very different sections. “Why isn’t it all together?” is a question I have gotten more than once.

I attended a work shop by the gang at Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library who had some great ideas on how to create more browser friendly collections while still maintaining their place on the shelves. Naturally attacking the entire collection would be a nightmare so they started by creating “neighborhoods”. First to bat was “travel”. They started by weeding the collection of all the old, out of date material, they PULLED HISTORY OUT! I could not agree more with this one! They went though and re-cataloged using SIMPLER Dewey classifications that put like materials together and even brought over specific items like phrase books for travelers and re-cataloged them into travel rather than foreign language. The object was to create a one stop browsing section where anyone looking to research for an upcoming TRIP could go and find just about everything they needed.

They went a step further and created travel bags on certain areas. The bags could be checked out as a set and included three or four books, possibly a map or travel guides and even a t-shirt that the patron could keep. The t-shirt would read something like “I booked my travel at PVLD” and the patrons were encouraged to take a photo of themselves on their travels and share it with the library when they returned the photos were then put in a display in the travel section. What a great way to get patrons involved!

I loved this idea because it took an already popular section and made it easier to use than ever. Circulation went up and patrons were excited about the new look. Taking this model you could work your way through the entire library step by step. Couldn’t you see a neighborhood on pets? How about taxes? Landscaping? Cooking? And of course…self-help!

Here is a link to their handouts: Why Do We Dewey?

JA