Springville Library ditching the Dewey system in kids section
SPRINGVILLE — Springville librarians have answered yes to the question, “Dewey or don’t we?” The children’s library in Springville is the first library in the state of Utah to ditch the Dewey Decimal System.
The Dewey Decimal Classification is a system of library classifications developed my Melvil Dewey in 1876. This system, which is made up of seven tables and 10 main classes that are each divided into 10 secondary classes or subcategories, each of which contain 10 subdivisions, organizes books on library shelves in a specific order meant to make it easy to find any book and be able to return it to its proper place.
It seems librarians are adapting to customers who want a variety of services for their tax dollar. Most libraries already provide a quiet place to read, a quick stop to pick up a few books, free story time for toddlers and book clubs for teens and adults.
“We are converting our collection over to a subject-based system which makes it easier for our parents and children to find a book on the shelf,” said John Averett, cataloger.
“We have started with animals, so the labeling on a children’s picture book about dinosaurs will read ‘PIC Animals Dino’ instead of having the call number in the 500s. The books are then sorted by alphabet title and placed on their subject shelf.”
“People can head to a shelf and find what they want more quickly,” Averett said. “Libraries try to serve their customers and finding books easily is important. We will also have a new homework area with books labeled for that and information available to help students, which is a new addition.”
And now the Springville Children’s Library has added bookstore-style browsing to its long list of adaptations. It will require a lot of work to re-label all the current books but the library staff is confident it can be completed in the next six months.
“It’s a huge job and so far we have done only about 200 out of the thousands of children’s books in our collection,” Averett said. “But the process will definitely be completed before we move to our new library building in the fall, and I’m sure library customers will really like it.”
