so this library system decides to drop dewey.  not just one library, a system of different branches.  good idea?  bad?  well, it doesn't suck as much as "let's put in a coffee shop" IMO.

Rangeview Library District, CO, First System To Fully Drop Dewey - 6/5/2009 - Library Journal

(lazy linkage, i know.  wonder if it even works.  tired.  you're informationally literate, so you can crossref that info.  or check my FB page, as that's where i threw it up first.)

so this district in CO goes with something called BISAC, which i need to look up.  used in bookstores, maybe not suitable for the library.  but--

fuckheads on wall street notwithstanding, the economy will not be getting better all that soon.  and for public libraries that need funding, that means justifying one's existence to the taxpayers.  (n.b., i'm coming from NJ; things may be different in your state)  and what else shows use better than circ figures? 

now, i'm no twopointohpian, but sometimes the system needs to change.  (LC system, i'm looking at you)  dewey may be clunky at times, and is usually altered or ignored in one way or another.  grisham or other popular fiction actually in the 800's?  or biographies filed by dewey?  probably not.  if your library's patrons browse more than search for specific texts (bestsellers do not count--reserves mean they won't make it to the shelves) then maybe some sections could be grouped in a general fashion like "self help" or "business advice" or "ridiculous political persuasion advice" (oops, but you get my drift).  throw those titles up front, near the new releases.  everything else can get a proper dewey number.

starting to ramble, so i'll leave that intro out there.  thoughts?

(crossposted to the usual suspect outlets LOL)

as librarians, we have lots of information resources at our disposal.  we learn how to navigate through it and help others to do so.  we learn to differentiate between reliable and unreliable sources.  in short, we are "informationally literate." 

but we can't be there all the time, and many databases, etc. that a library may have subscriptions to are accessible from home, 24/7.  here we hope that our patrons, and the public in general, have a degree of information literacy too, so they can avail themselves of these resources. 

the conundrum?  when folks discover they have enough information literacy of their own, and no longer need our services.  i'm not saying the folks at the wall street journal are all informationally literate (i'm sure some are).  but somebody upstairs at the WSJ has decided to save the dinero and close the WSJ library.  bye bye librarian & assistant. 

this is the future of librarianship.  as budgets shrink, personnel perceived as "non-essential" get the axe.  and as more of the citizenry or workforce becomes more informationally literate, the need for a "professional" falls away.  the need for information seekers won't disappear, as there will always be someone who just doesn't have the time or patience to go plowing and digging through all those resources for their informational needs.  those with the cash will hire someone.  but others will increasingly go without, or be satisfied with the first hit or two a cursory search reveals. 

(dark chuckle) heh, i got into this profession (some would say "returned to this prof.") for a sense of stability and security.  but as we learned in retail and in life in general, there isn't really a lot of either.

support your local library.  learn your way around, but please ask a question every now & then.