Jun 8, 2009 1:42 pm US/Mountain
No More Dewey Decimal System For Adams Co. Library
THORNTON, Colo. (AP) ―
An Adams County library district is dumping the Dewey Decimal Classification system for organizing its books in favor of one that is considered more user-friendly.
Rangeview Library District Pam Sandlian Smith said the retail-based system called WordThink encourages browsing and is more intuitive than the classification system developed by Melvil Dewey in the 1870s.
The new system, which breaks down books into about 45 alphabetical categories, will be used at all six of the district's libraries and its outreach office by the end of the year.
A spokeswoman at the American Library Association says the group doesn't keep statistics on how many libraries might be moving away from the Dewey system.
Sandlian Smith said theirs is the first district in the U.S. to dump Dewey.
"For years, we've had focus groups and people consistently tell us, 'I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how this library works,' " Sandlian Smith said. "So we decided to turn things upside down, and so far it seems to work well."
WordThink is similar to what major bookstores use, while Dewey's system breaks down all knowledge into 10 main categories with classes and subdivisions having corresponding numbers. The Dewey system is used in more than 200,000 libraries throughout the world and has been translated into 35 languages.
The Dewey system has ardent supporters.
"I guess I can't entirely see the reason for switching over to anything else," said K.R. Roberto, serials and electronic-resources librarian at the University of Denver. "This idea of grouping items by subject matter, it's already being done, it's just numerically."
Dewey translates well overseas for print and electronic formats, said Joan Mitchell, editor in chief, Dewey Decimal Classification for the Online Computer Library Center in Ohio. "I spend a lot of time talking to users around the world, and we are looking at developing Dewey in all different formats. It's very exciting."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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