杜威十进制图书分类法 Dewey Decimal System.docx

杜威十进制图书分类法 Dewey Decimal System.docx

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杜威十进制图书分类法DeweyDecimalSystem

BethanyGrabow

LS502ResearchPaper

December11,2009

Deweyvs.BookstoreShelving

It’soutwiththeoldandinwiththenewatlibrariesacrossthecountry;anincreasingnumberareeliminatingDeweyDecimalsandusingclassificationmethodsfoundinbookstores.Theideaofabandoningasystemthathashadaplaceinlibrariesforoveracenturyhasstimulatedmuchdiscussionamongpatronsandlibrarians.ThefollowingexploresthedifferencesbetweenDeweyandbookstore-styleclassification,thechangesmadebythoseusingbookstoreshelving,andtheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofchangingtoabookstore-styleshelvingsystem.

MelvilDeweycreatedtheDeweyDecimalClassificationasawaytoorganizelibrarymaterials（OCLC）.Itwasfirstpublishedin1876andiscurrentlyinits22ndedition.TheDeweyDecimalClassificationismaintainedbytheLibraryofCongressandisconstantlyupdatedtoreflecttheneedsandchangesinmodernsociety.Duetoitshistory,popularity,andconsistency,Deweyremainsawidelyusedorganizationaltoolinlibraries.

WhatdoesDeweylooklike?

TheDeweyDecimalClassificationhas10mainclasses,dividedinto10divisions,dividedinto10sectionsbasedonthesubjectofthematerial.（OCLC）.Nonfictionbooksareassignedacallnumberbasedonthesedivisionsandtheauthor'slastname,meaningthateachbookhasaspecific“address”whereitcanbefoundinthelibrary.ThismeanswhetherapatronlookingforthebookWhoMovedMyCheese?

bySpencerJohnsoninBroomfield,ColoradoorSeattle,Washington,willfinditlocatedat155.24Johwithotherbooksaboutdevelopmentalpsychology.ThisuniformityisoftenanargumentforretainingDeweyinlibraries.

Bookstoreshelvingisaclassificationmethodmodeledfromretailbookstores（Fister22）.Thismethodisarelativelynewphenomenon.Unliketherules-basedDeweyDecimalClassification,bookstoreshelvingappearstobeopentointerpretationbytheindividuallibraryduringandafterimplementation.Researchonlibrariesworkingwithbookstoreshelvingmethodsshowthattheytendtoavoiduniversalrulesandfocusoncreatingasystemthatworksbestfortheirlibrariesandpatrons.

Whatdoesbookstoreshelvinglooklike?

Itdependsontheindividuallibrary.Oneofthemostprominentbookstore-styleclassificationsystemscurrentlyinuseistheBookIndustryStandardsandCommunications（BISAC）listofcategories（Stauffer49）.BISACorganizesbooksinto52categories,eachwithfurtherlevelsofspecificity（Fister22）.Thecategoryandsubdivisionsforeachbookisdecidedbythebookpublisher.AnexampleofaBISACsubjectheadingforapizzacookbookwouldappearasCOOKING/Courses&Dishes/Pizza（BookIndustryStudyGroup）.

MaricopaCountyLibraryDistrict'sPerryBranchinPhoenix,ArizonausesamodifiedversionoftheBISACcategories（LibraryStaff）.Basedonthebooksinitscollection,thelibrarycreatedatemplateofthecategoriesitwoulduse.Thistemplateisusedtocreatespinelabels.AnexamplespinelabelforabookonthesocialscienceswouldsimplyreadSOCSCI.Booksarealphabetizedbytitlewithinthecategories.

RangeviewLibraryDistrictinNorthglenn,ColoradousesasimilarapproachknownasWordThink（Fister23）.WordThinkhasspinelabelswithwords,abroadcategorysuchasartandanarrowercategorysuchasdrawing.Booksareshelvedbycategory;withinthecategories,booksareshelvedinalphabeticalorderbytitle.

DarienLibraryinDarien,ConnecticuthasattemptedtocombinethebestofbothDeweyandbookstoreshelving.Darien’sbooksstillhaveaDeweynumber,buthavebeenreorganizedintoeightbroadcategoriescalled“glades”（Fister24）.Forexample,booksabouttravelandlanguage,separatedbyDewey,arecombinedintoagladecalledPlaces.DarienLibrarybuysstickerswiththenamesofthegladesandplacesthestickersabovethecallnumbers.Thishasbeenespeciallypopularinthechildren’sdepartmentwherebooksareorganizedbyagerangeandsubjectmatter.

LibrariesintheUnitedStatesarenotaloneintryingbookstoreshelving.BaysideLibraryServicesinMelbourne,Australiaembracedacollectionredesignafterabuildingexpansion（Hopkins8）.Goalsfortheredesignincludedincreasingnonfictionuseandgroupinglikethingstogethertohelppatronssearchefficiently.Baysidecreatedcollectionsofpopularadultnonfiction,and,likeDarien,putthingstogetherthatDeweynormallyseparates（Hopkins10）.Eachcollectionhasanameandacoloredsticker.Signsinthenonfictionareahavecolorsthatcorrespondwiththestickers.

Publiclibrariesarenottheonlyonestryingtofindanalternativetotraditionallibraryclassification.BellevueHighSchoolsinBellevue,Nebraskarecentlyreorganizedtheirfictioncollections（GangwishandPietsch）.Librarianschosesevenpopulargenresinwhichtoclassifybooks.Aspinelabelforabookreads:

FIC,theauthor’slastname,andthegenrecategorysuchasMYSformysteryorHORforhorror.Tintedlabelsfitoverspinelabelstocolorcodebooksbygenre.

Librariesusingbookstore-styleshelvinghaveafewthingsincommon.First,booksareclassifiedbywordsratherthan,orinadditionto,numbers（Fister22;Hopkins10）.Second,visualaids,suchassigns,stickers,orcolors,directpatronstothedifferentsubjectareas（Fister24;Hopkins10）.ThelookofbookstoreshelvingisquitedifferentfromthelookofDewey.Thequestionthatremainsiswhetheronesystemworksbetterthantheother.

ProponentsofbookstoreshelvinghavemuchtosayaboutitsadvantagesoverDewey.InaninterviewonNationalPublicRadio,MarshallShore,adultservicescoordinatorfortheMaricopaCountyLibraryDistrict,talkedaboutthedecisiontotransitiontobookstoreshelving（NationalPublicRadio）.Shorelookedatwhatcustomersknow,understand,anduse:

bookstores.Hebelieveslibrariesshouldbeconvenient,providethebestserviceforpatrons,andreinforcetherelevanceoflibrariesinthelivesofthepublic.AnecdotalevidencecollectedintheRangeviewLibraryDistrictinColoradorevealedthatthepubliclibrary'sproblemsliein“coffee,collection,andclassification”（CaseyandStephens19）.Patronsliketobrowsebookswithadrinkinhand.RangeviewdirectorPamSandlianSmithcitedeasycustomeraccessandselfserviceasreasonsthebookstoreshelvingmethodworks.

Inanonlinesurvey,66.3percentofpubliclibrariansacknowledgedthatmanypatronsdon'tunderstandorareintimidatedbyDewey（Fister24）.MarshallShore,talkingwithinfrequentlibraryusers,heardcommentssuchas'thosenumbersscareme,''Idon'tunderstandthem,''theymakemefeelstupid.'（Fister,22）.Bookstoreshelvingismeanttoalleviateconfusionandhelppatronstobecomemoreself-sufficientbyusingwordsandsignagethatareeasytounderstand.OnepubliclibrarypatroninArizona,afterusingbookstore-styleshelving,describedherselfas“empowered”;shenowknowshowtofindthingsonherownandisnolongerintimidatedbyDeweynumbers（Fister22）.

Responsesfrompatronswhohaveusedlibrarieswithbookstoreshelvinghavebeenalmostentirelypositive（Hopkins10）.Reportedly,whenMaricopaCountyLibraryDistrict'sPerryBranchfirstopened,patronsdidnotevenseentonoticetheabsenceofDewey（Whelan,14）.MarshallShoreremembers,“Onopeningday,extrastaffwerecalledintohandlethepresumedcustomerconfusion.Irememberapproachingawomantoexplainthelibrary,whenshemouthed'gardening'andmadeabeelinetothearea,browsed,andleftwithastackofbooks”（Fister,23）.Sincethattime,therehasbeensuchanonslaughtofpositivecommentsthatMaricopachangedfiveofits18librariestothebookstoreshelvingsystem（Fister23）.Infact,MaricopaCountyLibraryDistrict,RangeviewLibraryDistrict,DarienLibrary,BellevueHighSchools,andBaysideLibraryServiceshaveallreportedariseincirculationnumberssincetheirindividualtransitionstobookstoreshelving（Fister23,25;GangwishandPietsch;Hopkins10）.PerryBranch'scirculationincreasedby11,000itemsborrowedfromoneyeartothenextafterthetransition（Fister23）.DarienLibrary'schildren'sdepartmentsawanincreaseofabout30percenteachmonthaftertheswitch（Fister25）.

Anotheradvantagetobookstoreshelvingiscreativecollocation.InasurveyconductedatMaricopaCountyLibraryDistrict'sPerryBranch,over75percentofcustomersindicatedthattheyusethelibraryto“browse”（Fister22）.WhileDeweyhaspredeterminedlocationsfornonfictionbooks,bookstoreshelvingallowslibrarianstoplacerelateditemstogether（Hopkins10）.Forinstance,Deweyplacesforeignlanguagebooksinthe400sandtravelbooksinthe900s.Withtheflexibilityofbookstoreshelving,thelibrarycanplaceinoneareaatravelguideforParis,aParismuseumguide,andaFrenchlanguagephrasebook.BaysideLibraryServicesinMelbourne,Australiaispleasedwiththeeaseofbrowsingbroughtaboutbybookstoreshelving.“Feedbackfromborrowers,staffandthelendingfiguresallindicatethatthecollectionrearrangementhasmadeiteasierforbothadultandjuniorlibraryuserstolocateitemstheywant,ortofinditemswhichtheydonotknowtheywant,butarehappytotakehomeandread”（Hopkins11）.

Althoughtheadvantagesofbookstoreshelvinghaveeffectedchangeinsomelibraries,therearestillmanysupportersofDeweyDecimalClassification.Deweyisquintessentialpubliclibrary.OnecanfindDeweyinover135countriesacrosstheglobe,anditexistsinmorethan30languages（OCLC）.Deweyisthesameateverylocation,allowingknowledgeablepatronstounderstandwheretolocateanitemineverypubliclibrary,regardlessofloc