1. Dewey Unplugged Beyond the Dewey Decimal Classification System

2. Who was Melvil Dewey? Pioneer of American librarianship Created the decimal classification system in 1876

3. Who was Melvil Dewey? Pioneer of American librarianship Created the decimal classification system in 1876 - This was the time of the Industrial Revolution. There were many things invented then that we still use today BUT there are many others that have outlived there usefulness: the rotary washing machine the automatic player piano the tin can with a key opener the Pullman sleeping car for train travel

4. The Dewey System 10 broad topics which are then divided into 10 sub- topics, yielding 1000 topics that can be referred to by an integer number Each of these can be indefinitely subdivided using decimals

5. The Broad Topics We think about ourselves: 100s - Psychology and Philosophy We wonder about the creator: 200s – Religion and Mythology People learn to get along together: 300s - Social Sciences We communicate with each other: 400s - Languages

6. More Broad Topics We learn about nature and the world around us: 500s - Natural Science. How we can make nature useful? 600s – Applied Science How we can use our spare time? 700s Fine Arts and Recreation ~ 800s Literature We wonder about the world and our place in it. 900s - Geography and History

7. The Leftovers Everything else: Encyclopedias, books about libraries, museums, journalism, computers, and controversial or unexplained topics 000s - General Works

8. Dewey Still Has Its Place We don't think Dewey is wrong We are just offering an alternative that we think users will understand better The choice is completely up to you

9. General Problems with Dewey Long strings of numbers to uniquely identify No one but a cataloguer can understand the system after the decimal point Hard to slot in new inventions, thoughts and ideas Many overlaps Religion, language, customs, and history are the primary reasons prompting adaptations Dewey places biographies by the subject Dewey places fiction in the 800s divided by country then date

10. General Problems with Dewey New topics cause a required shift in the entire collection, it causes TLs to struggle to find shelving often in the middle of the collection and their is simply no room With Dewey popular topics like Gardening can be scattered 580 Botany 635 Gardening 712.6 Landscaping

11. Problems For Our Users Our users often cannot understand the numbers past the decimal Limited access to a teacher-librarian Limited use of the non- fiction collection Limited access to the online catalogue

12. More problems Our patrons are most often looking for books on a topic rather than a specific book Cannot find the topics they are looking for

13. Our Solution Using a less confusing classification system Unplugging Dewey Using a system with words that our patrons understand Bigger and better signage

14. A Note on Signage

15. A note on Signage

16. Our Solution Using a less confusing classification system Unplugging Dewey Using a system with words that our patrons understand Bigger and better signage Creating categories and sub-categories that children can understand

17. Enter sur~F !

18. sur~F see use reshelve ~ FAST

19. Main Categories Activities Animals The Arts Biography Canada Health Home and Family Industries Languages Literature Living and Working Look it Up Math Mind and Soul Nature People of the Past Science Social Issues Sports Things that Go The Unexplained The World

20. Look it up Alphabet Almanacs Dictionaries General 1 English 2 French 3 Beginners 4 Thesaurus 5 Illustrated 6 Science 7 Encyclopedia Facts Idioms Language Arts General 1 Composition 2 Reading 3 Maps Question and Answer General 1 Guinness world book 2 Sports 3 Animals 4 Earth 5 Science 6 History 7

21. The Process

24. After the sorting After assigning new categories After the attaching new labels Time to start putting it all back Original signs

25. Building the sections back up

26. Hanging the signs (don’t do it)

28. Fine-tuning the sub-classes

32. What sur~F Can Fix for You sur~F will fix your Biography problem sur~F will put all your Social Studies together (eg Medieval Times) sur~F will attract readers with eye catching words they understand (e.g.,The Unexplained) sur~F will make shelving the books so easy even a 3rd grader can do it sur~F will improve the circulation statistics of your nonfiction section sur~F will have your users asking for more nonfiction books and you will be buying nonfiction books rather then spending all your money on graphic novels Your books on soil may not fly off the shelves but at least they are together now

33. Worried your users will never learn Dewey? The average library user has the possibility of learning 4 classification systems in their lifetime: OCLC (Dewey), LC (Library of Congress), BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communication) OSC (Open Shelves Classification System) We think the concept of a classification system is what is important and sur~F embodies all of the elements of a classification system

34. Wanna sur~F ??

35. Requirements We are making a list for September Will be doing a few schools in the summer There is a cost of $350.00 for materials Presentation to principal and staff Estimated time is 1-2 weeks for a 5000 nonfiction book collection The Dewey number will be changed in your catalogue to reflect where the book is on your shelf