If you spend an afternoon at a large bookstore,” Sheehan says, “you’ll see people using it in a couple of ways. The bookstore-as-destination people come in, wander around, get a stack of books, a cup of coffee, and settle in. The grab-and-go folks take a quick look around and usually hop on a computer or ask an employee, find the item they’re looking for, and leave. Dewey is great for the grab-and-goers, and we didn’t want to lose that. Dewey is not so great for the destination users. Cooking is in technology. Gardening is in arts and recreation. Don’t those two make more sense with each other?

“The Dewey Dilemma,” Barbara Fister (10/1/09, LJ)

An older, longer piece, but one I’m thinking about a lot right now. Our small, rural public library is contemplating changing to BISAC for its nonfiction organization. I’ve only done a few circ shifts so far at the library, but we definitely seem to have both kinds of patrons, especially the latter.

Does anyone have any first hand experience with BISAC or the like, either as a librarian or a user? My gut reaction is to like the idea, but I’m hesitant to jump on something trendy and new and abandon a pretty time-honored precedent.

Claire the Cataloger from The Undercover Shelf

1. Can you tell us about your current position?

Sure! I am a cataloger at a large public library. When I took a cataloging class in library school, I remember thinking “I don’t ever want to be a cataloger or work at a public library!” I’ve since learned that, usually, when I make declarative statements like that, the opposite usually happens. And thank goodness! My position combines good old fashioned cataloging of books and other physical materials as well as metadata services for digital objects from the archives next door, so it’s perfect for me, basically.

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