Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Shelving An introduction to the organization of resources in our library

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District There are five principles that guide our library practices Published in 1931, S. R. Ranganathan, from India, proposed 5 principles as a guide for library science He is considered to be the “father of library science.” He stressed that service to the PATRON is the foundation of library services

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Ranganathan’s 5 principles Books are for use. Every reader, his or her book. Every book, its reader. Save the time of the reader. The library is a growing organism.

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District As a growing organism We need to maintain an organizational system that can accommodate new materials We need to keep books available on the shelves for our users There are two main organizational systems commonly used by libraries: Library of Congress Classification Dewey Decimal Classification

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District The Dewey Decimal System Our library uses this system to organize and categorize our non-fiction library collection We keep fiction in its own designated section Non-fiction Fiction These are labels from the spines of books; more about that later

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District How to place books on shelves Remember the shelves “read” left to right, top to bottom You can think of this the same way you think of the pages in a book Shelf markers designate how wide the shelf is just like pages in a book do Shelf Marker

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Shelving FICTION The fiction section is organized alphabetically by the Author’s last name If several authors have the same last name, the next item to be used for alphabetizing is the first name If there are several titles by the same author, the next item to be used is the title of the book (remember to ignore “a,” “an,” and “the” if it’s the first word in the title)

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Rule of Thumb Our goal is to help our patrons find what they are looking for In our library, books from a series may be shelved in order of publicationand not by title

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Shelving FICTION (cont’d) A perfect example is Darren Shan Most people looking for his Cirque Du Freak series of books will want to read all 12 in order Shelving them this way does not follow the alphabetical rule It does follow the rule to help patrons find what they are looking for

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Shelving Non-fiction These books and other materials are organized by Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) called the “call number” The number designates the location of the book on the shelf Each book has a unique number and location

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Shelving Non-fiction (cont’d) Our Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) lists the call number so patrons can locate the books they want on the shelf The shelves have guide numbers to help patrons locate the general shelf location of the book Shelving them properly makes them easier for patrons to find

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Location of a Call Number Call numbers are located on the spine of the book: Spine label with call number

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Anatomy of a call number from the spine label for Mammals This indicates the class of this title: natural science This indicates the subdivision within natural science: mammals These are is the first 3 letters of the author’s last name Some call numbers may be preceded by a guide word to show a special location like REFERENCE, CAREERS, or OVERSIZED ???

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Things to remember Nothing comes before something i.e. 599 before Use your number sense with decimals before Shelve by the call number Then by the author Then by title (if there are multiple books with the same call number and author) Remember to disregard “A,” “AN,” “THE,” if the first word in the title

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Putting it all together Follow the rule of thumb from Ranganathan’s 5 principles: We want to help patrons find what they’re looking for Non-fiction is shelved by call number Use your number sense Fiction is shelved by author’s last name Series can be shelved to follow their reading order When in doubt, ASK!

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District Without organization We’d never find anything… Happy shelving!

Product of W.S.Hart Union HS District For practice Work your way through the shelving practice exercises at 2s/utopia/library4/src/library4.html 2s/utopia/library4/src/library4.html (from the University of Texas)