From Dewey to Natural Language

T H E R E O R G A N I Z AT I O N O F N U N A M U I T S C H O O L L I B R A R Y

FROM DEWEY TO NATURAL LANGUAGE

INSPIRATION

• Pam Sandlian Smith and “Wordthink”• Part of the “Anythink” rebranding to make libraries

relevant for the 21st Century• “From a building of books to a place where the

community connects with information and has experiences that inspire new ideas”

• Eliminated Dewey in the Rangeview Library District• Greatly increased circulation, participation and funding!

LIBRARY RENOVATION

INTERLIBRARY COOPERATION GRANT

• State Wide Significance• Innovation• New Services• Technology

VISITING RANGVIEW

Neighborhood Approach

Identify Subjects

Batch processbased on bar code list

Be prepared to Revise

PROCEDURE

• How do my patrons use the library?

• How do they need information organized?

• Small Inupiat village

CONSIDERATIONS

• Collection Size: 9,942 copies

• Minimal Staff

• School Curriculum

• Cultural Interest

ANALYZE COLLECTION

• Identify Subject headings• Primary• Secondary

• BISAC, Dewey and WordSpeak

• Shelf List

• Counting and categorizing

SORT BOOKS

• Revise Primary Headings• Identify Secondary Headings

CREATE LABELS

• Spine Labels

• Shelf Labels

TEAMWORK

• One Week + Four Librarians+ 3 part time helpers =

One reorganized Library

Thank you

Sue, AjaAnd

Jacque

INTRODUCE TO THE PUBLIC

• Open House & Publicity

RESPONSE

• “Love this book store idea, I’ve made $1000 so far selling books!”

• “I can quickly run in between classes and find what I need.”

• “I know where the truck books are.”

• “It is much easier to shelve.”

• “What should I put on this spine label?”

SPINE LABEL DILEMMA

CONSIDERATIONS

• Who will be cataloging?• Rangeview sent translation key to Ingram

• How big is your collection?• Alphabetizing

• Do you need all those Books?

• Guides versus Librarians

• Transfer Skills

QUESTIONS

DISCUSSION

• Would this benefit your patrons?

• How would you accomplish the task?• People Power• Funding

• What effect will this have on libraries and patrons in the future?