DDC in French public libraries

DDC in French public libraries 90% of public libraries import the records of their books from the catalog of the BNF 99% of public libraries use Unimarc in which the Dewey index is placed in 676$a And at 20% when a library imports records from suppliers other than the BNF, it is increasingly using software that aligns these new records with those of the BNF as soon as the document is cataloged. Then, each library uses a local book ranking system

DDC in French public libraries Axes of evolution for classification DDC only DDC Simplification of DDC DDC’s adaptation

DDC in French public libraries Axes of evolution for classification DDC only DDC Since the end of the war and the opening to the public of French libraries, librarians have turned to the most widely used classification in the world to organize their collections. The application was made by following the development of the classification as accurately as possible to create the books indexes.

DDC in French public libraries Axes of evolution for classification Simplification of DDC In the 1980s, the construction and expansion of libraries led the new teams to question themselves upstream on the organization of the collections. Often the DDC has remained the model to be applied but by simplifying as much as possible the indexes affixed on the books. The first rule applied was not to develop a rating if it were to apply only to a limited number of books. It was therefore a rupture from the principle of classifying the most finely in relation to the subject. A second rule, relativizing the first one, posed that we could not classify more than 20 documents under the same index, in order to avoid readers to spend too much time, leaning, reading the titles of the books. The most extremists have even gone so far as to say that an index should have only 6, 4 or even 3 digits. The libraries that set up such a type of classification were very numerous until the 2000s.

DDC in French public libraries Axes of evolution for classification DDC’s adaptation But this simplification did not end there. More and more librarians, considering that the DDC was too complex and not comprehensible by the public, decided to adapt it to help the public find the documents more easily. We then saw teams triturating the DDC, organizing it differently, bringing elements of different classes together to organize knowledge according to other principles, but always on the basis of the DDC. Many librarians thought they were Melvil Dewey and spent hours reinventing a more publicly orientated classification.

DDC in French public libraries DDC for publics Public’s evolutions Help them Signage

DDC in French public libraries DDC for publics Public’s evolutions If a simplification of the DDC can be understood, there are certain ways that can help readers find their documents without disrupting a knowledge-based organization that has proved its worth. One of the disadvantages of working on its own to organize a ranking is that, when passing from one library to another, the reader must familiarize himself with new ratings to find works he is interested in. (The passionate readers of architecture books quickly find that it is in 720 that they will find their happiness (it does not matter that they do not understand the specificities of 724.6 or .8). All librarians can also notice that each year its public evolves, and that new members subscribe replacing those who left and often have joined another library. This fluctuating public is not so negligible and by abandoning a classification imperfect but generalized, we ask the public to adapt themselves each time, while these adaptations of the Dewey were thought, in the first place, make it easier for the public.

DDC in French public libraries DDC for publics Help them Too few librarians know that an index is composed of two independent elements that are neither standardized. And if some people consider themselves easily authorized to work on the numerical part of the quotation, few have considered working on the letters, thinking, wrongly, that it is absolutely necessary to indicate by them the author of the text. But if you want to help the reader find all the books on Word® it is better to use the original Dewey index and complete it with the first letters of the software. In many fields, and often the most promising in the collections (computer science, tourism, health, etc.), the use of this simple trick will make it possible to answer the question. I was amazed by the interest of young and not so young professionals in this simple idea.

DDC in French public libraries DDC for publics Signage When we talk about organization of collections and public, we cannot forget the signage. Too often librarians think that it is enough to pose on a wall a beautiful poster with the list of domains and divisions of the Dewey to help the public. One of the intangible rules of signage should be: to each book block on a shelf, a label. Only this sign of proximity allows the reader to realize the organization of the classification. By passing from one shelf to the other, from France to Portugal passing through Italy, the reader will quickly retrieve himself in the collections. There is no point accumulating books if the reader does not spot them in the spaces. Unfortunately, the new libraries are created by architects who make architectural gestures that are often seductive, create original furniture, but do not go so far as to think of signage (when they do not forbid it to not depreciate their creations).

DDC in French public libraries DDC for publics

DDC in French public libraries DDC for librarian DDC Indexation and classification DDC on library portals DDC and documentary policy

DDC in French public libraries DDC for librarian DDC Indexation and classification Few librarians have a fairly detailed knowledge of DCC to differentiate between indexing and classification. And it's not library software that can help us. Too often, they even propose to automatically integrate the index into the rating. As a result, librarians sometimes use their classifications in the DDC index fields of the Unimarc grid

DDC in French public libraries DDC for librarian

DDC in French public libraries DDC for librarian DDC on library portals Dewey indexing is rarely found on public libraries portals, unlike other indexing that allows the reader to navigate from one document to another. While indexing RAMEAU, the coordinated indexing language, is automatically used by French catalogs, there are few that allow readers to navigate from the Dewey index. The French catalogs merely link the documents by their place on shelves and not by their Dewey index.

DDC in French public libraries DDC for librarian

DDC in French public libraries DDC for librarian

DDC in French public libraries DDC for librarian DDC and documentary policy The use of DDC can be an important aid in the management of collections for acquisitions and also for weeding.

DDC in French public libraries DDC for librarian

DDC in French public libraries And so After all that we have seen, the training of librarians at the DDC must therefore address the following points Construction of accurate indices for indexing Importance of the difference between indexation and classification Reflections on the organization of collections in space Usefulness of the DDC for documentary policy and collections management Integration of the DDC in newcatalogs integrated in semantic web