Monday, August 13, 2012

Details about Ditching Dewey

Hi friends!

Are you thinking about ditching Dewey? I talked about it earlier this year, and I think about it every time I try to help a student find a non-fiction book, in a location that doesn't really make sense ("I know the soldier books are over there, honey. I don't know why the tank books are over here with the cars instead of with the soldiers.")

Here's a blog post from the Van Meter Library Voice that gives lots of details about converting the whole library from Dewey to the bookstore model of organization. If you are thinking about making this big change, you'll wanna bookmark this super blog post.


Right now, I'm not quite ready to ditch Dewey, but I do think I'm just gonna let go of Dewey a little bit at a time. I've already pulled the graphic novels into their own section, out of the non-fiction area.

Perhaps this was prompted in part by the third grader who was helping me shelve last year. When I told him that Babymouse belonged in non-fiction, he responded (with child-like candor), "who told you THAT?" He clearly thought that someone had tricked me. 

I still giggle when I think about the incredulous look on his face.



6 comments:

  1. Interesting! Thanks for the food for thought...

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    1. You're welcome, Natalie. Thanks for taking time to comment!

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  2. Thanks Cari I'm really keen to see how this goes. I get so frustrated at times that Dewey makes no sense especially to the younger grades. I've found that if I group together books on the one topic in a box on a shelf they get looked at and go out more often than if they're just in with the other 'dewey's '. I'll be watching....

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    1. Thanks for your comment, Caville! I've tried grouping books in a box for the younger grades, but not for everyone. I'll have to give that a try. I agree, that when most adults don't understand Dewey, why do we waste so much time trying to teach it to kids?

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  3. THanks for pointing me toward this website. I love hearing about libraries that are changing over. I am more than seriously considering the switch. I am slated to start in the next little while and am kind of scared of all the organizing and reorganizing it will take. Scared, but still very excited.

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    1. Thanks for your comment! I'll be posting more on this topic in the future, as I'm pondering this move. I think it makes a lot of sense for our students!

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