Looking Beyond Dewey: An Alternative Approach to Organizing a Library Collection Through the BISAC System

McCune, Andria

Hibner, H., & Kelly, M. (2010). Making a collection count: A holistic approach to library collection management. Cambridge, UK: Woodhead Publishing Limited.

In the book entitled Making a collection count: A holistic approach to library collection management, the authors Hibner and Kelly (2010) in Chapter 6: Collection Organization describe the typical classification used in libraries, which is the Dewey decimal classification system. However, some libraries within the United States have found a different approach to organizing their collection, which is a system used primarily in bookstores known as the "BISAC system" (p. 99). According to the authors, libraries have adopted this new approach to organizing their collections due to the fact that the "Dewey arrangement does not facilitate browsing in the areas of most interest to public library users" (Hibner & Kelly, 2010, p. 99). The BISAC system allows library patrons to quickly find the subject areas they are looking for, rather than relying on locating the specific classification number, or call number, in order to locate the subject matter they are attempting to find. For example, as Hibner and Kelly explain, the BISAC system "uses an alphabetical list of categories to arrange collections...by taking popular subjects and grouping them together in a more browsable, eye-catching way, non-fiction circulates better. It also helps library users avoid frustration and information overload and saves them time" (Hibner & Kelly, 2010, p.99). There are of course a few downsides to adopting this sort of system, and quite a number of librarians from various library systems have expressed their disapproval towards this type of system of organizations. However, this system is a fresh way of working with the library collection in order to best meet the diverse needs of library patrons and is worth examining to see if this sort of approach will work for particular library systems, especially ones that are open to changing long-established methods of organization in favor of providing better service to library patrons. 

Dewey Lite: Flippant or Forward Thinking?

Gattullo Marracolla, E. & Parrot, K. Dewey-lite: a solution to the nonfiction problem (PDF document). Retrieved from Institution Handouts: http://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/NI14Handouts/Dewey-Lite_Handout1.pdf

From a collection development standpoint, is reorganizing the school library using a system other than Dewey Decimal a good plan?  The 2014 ASLA Institute presentation, Dewey-lite: A Solution to the Nonfiction Problem, explains some of the potential benefits of this method, such as a significant rise in nonfiction circulation, better visibility of a wider variety of titles, and ultimately a patron-focused collection.  This presentation may be an oversimplification of these benefits, although this has become a trend across US children's libraries, as well as in Canada and others.  So what would one of these library collections look like?

First, nonfiction sections are broken up into, what is considered more intuitive categories such as these mentioned in the presentation from Darien Library,

• Create: which includes music, arts, gardening, dance, and cooking
• Then & Now: which includes geography, history, and current events
• Animals: which includes all living things prehistoric and currently living

Or these from the Metis system as mentioned in a School Library Journal 2012 article,

• Languages
• Humor
• Community
• Countries
• Machines
• Ourselves

When the reorganizing first takes place, sorting, organizing and weeding will likely take place too.  These new categories may bring unidentified collection needs to light and/or may help to address some needs that had been previously identified.  

Here is a look at this process in action, and the reaction afterward of two elementary school librarians in Ontario, Canada.  

J. Hasselberger

Spring 2016

Throwing Dewey Overboard

von Mayrhauser, Heidi.

Parrott, K. & Gattullo, E.  (2013).  Throwing Dewey Overboard.  Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 11 (3), 3-33.

Length: 6 pages

Notes Summary and Evaluation:  This was an interesting article about a library in Connecticut that got rid of the Dewey Decimal System--and then the amazing results that followed.  I was interested in this topic, as classmates talked about the possibility of this after looking at our core, emphasis, and special collections in presentations three and four.

After reorganizing their picture book and early reader collections by topic (instead of author last name) the circulation went from 18,926 to 121,245 in the first year!  Then they went on to reconsider their older juvenile fiction collection and non-fiction collection.  I went into this article feeling that getting rid of the DDC would work in a small, non-fiction collection.  But for a large non-fiction collection this might be too overwhelming to find a single book, say for a paging list.  This library came up with a "Dewey Hybrid Model" or "Dewey Lite."  This meant that the collection was divided into several broad subject areas.  The DD numbers remained on the spines.  An example of how they moved things around is by putting all animal books together (500s--animals and 600s--pets).

Here are their main subject areas:

• Kids Animals
• Kids Create
• Kids Facts
• Kids Fun
• Kids Poetry
• Kids Self
• Kids Sports
• Kids STEM
• Kids Then & Now

This article also walks you through the entire process and gives lots of tips in case you want to implement something similar.  It also addresses possible problems, the main being outliers of these subject areas.

The Fight of the Century: Dewey vs. Genre Classification Systems

Laudato, Maricar

Buchter, H. (2013). Dewey vs. genre throwdown. Knowledge Quest, 42(2), 50-57.

Summary

In this article, Holli Buchter outlines the overhaul of the Red Hawk elementary school library’s classification system from the Dewey Decimal System to an organization system based on genre named after her, the BCS (Buchter Classification System). In this system, fiction books are organized by genre, nonfiction books are organized by subject, and all “call numbers” on the spine are word based—there are no numbers. The result—it was a success with the entire community and circulation statistics across fiction and nonfiction titles went way up, especially when compared to neighboring schools that still utilized the DDC.

Evaluation

 

I’ve been talking about overhauling our classification system from Dewey to a subject specific one as well, but it terrifies me because I love being organized. A project of such magnitude would involve getting used to a large measure of chaos, especially in the beginning. I’m hoping to see if there are any local high school libraries who have done this already so that there is some type of model that our school library can refer to. It’s going to take a lot of teeth-pulling, however, to get a project like this approved!