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List:       publib
Subject:    [Publib] Re: Good-bye Dewey (from former Maricopa employee)
From:       jano808 () hotmail ! com (Jane Cronkhite)
Date:       2007-05-31 14:38:59
Message-ID: BAY141-F408B3769A67C8E8D5CFFABF52D0 () phx ! gbl
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Having had worked at Maricopa County library district, I wonder the 
reasoning behind getting rid of Dewey.  I didn't have the best impression of 
the library administration, although they certainly did try unique practices 
in the name of good customer service.

Here are some of the potentially good-for-business, not necessarily 
customer-related, implications:
-Saving money:  how are items being cataloged?  What's the alternative to 
Dewey?  How are things listed in the catalog?  How does staff find materials 
for requests?  What's in the MARC record?
-What's the collection like?  MCLD purchases mostly popular materials, and 
certainly is not a research facility.  When I worked there I was at a 
regional that was downsized to a branch, which as I understand it now, is 
barely that.  Why use Dewey if your collection has no depth?

Which brings me to why I like Dewey, and why I like libraries over 
bookstores: libraries, at least some of them, should serve historical 
purposes.  Sometimes I want to read a book that was a bestseller a few years 
ago, and those you can't find in most of the pop-materials libraries.
And sometimes, books defy general categorization.  Yes, I'm definitely one 
of those librarians who gets frustrated in Borders (although I LOVE 
Borders), I can't figure out why on earth books are in the general 
categories they're in.

On a positive side, it's been a few years since I worked at MCLD, and maybe 
their motivations are not as sinister as I perceive them to be.  But, to me, 
getting rid of Dewey goes hand in hand having a popular materials aka cookie 
cutter aka McLibrary, which, is not always a good thing.

Jane Cronkhite

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