There has been a lot of debate recently over weeding out the Dewey Decimal System in exchange for a more patron- and browsing-friendly Subject Classification System. Can this really work? What are the pros and cons of such a dramatic change? Join us to discover how the Teen Advisory Board of the La Vista Public Library implemented such a change in their teen department. This session will be presented by Lindsey Tomsu, the YA librarian, and Sarah Kreber, a member of the La Vista Public Library Teen Advisory Board, who played a huge part in making this project successful.
2. In the beginning . . . weeding in 2009 and
2010
November 2010 – TAB created
Weeding in 2010 - What teens said about NF
October 2011 – Stats dismal
What do I weed when nothing is going out?
November 2011 – Took the stats to TAB
10. Of the 1,910 NF books:
1,539 were General NF
371 were Graphic Novels/Manga
Series
11. Of the 371 GNM, 336 of these books circulated
accounting for 1,376 of the NF circ total
(70%)
Of the 1,539 other NF books, 469 of these
circulated accounting for 689 of the NF circ
total (30%)
With 336 of the 371 GNM collection moving,
the total circ of just that small part of the
collection was 90%
12. Which meant . . .
Only 42% of the entire NF
collection circulated
13. Heavily weed the collection getting rid of
“dead” books (which would have been more
than 1,000 books)
Heavily weed the NF and be more high-
interest
Make the NF area GNM only and move all
other books to children/adult collections
Move from Dewey to Subject Classification
14. Weeding low-interest books
Meeting with vendors and looking at catalogs
for new high-interest books
Developing a subject classification system
Categorizing the remaining books
Making new signage
Weeding the old books
Shifting the collection
Physically changing the labels
Checking out books under the new system
Continued maintenance
15. Graphic Novels and Manga moved from
741.5 to a prominent spot at the beginning
of the teen nonfiction area.
Given a whole new category in the catalog:
GNM
To save space and make the area more
interesting to the eye, large series were
“pancaked”
16.
17. ART (Art)
BAB (Babysitting)
COO (Cooking)
CRA (Crafts)
DIS (Diseases & Disorders)
EDU / FIN (Education & Finance)
FIL / MUS (Animation/Film/Music)
GAM / TEC (Gaming & Technology)
GEO (Geography)
GOV (Government)
HEA / BEA / FAS (Health, Beauty & Fashion)
HIS (History)
HOL (Holocaust)
MYT / PAR (Mythology & Paranormal)
POP (Pop Culture)
REA (Real Life Topics)
REL (Relationships)
SOC (Social Science)
SPO (Sports)
STA (States)
WRI / LIT / LAN (Writing, Literature & Language)
23. The switch was completed during
Christmas vacation in December 2011.
In just one month nearly 300 books (nearly
50% of the previous year’s whole
circulation number for non-GNM NF books)
went out.
24. October 2011 – October 2012
Circulation in the
new NF area
25. 1,487 Books in Teen
NF Collection
3,339 Total NF Circulation
26. Of those 1487 books . . .
1,012 circulated
475 did not (this includes 100
brand new books)
Much better than 1,105
27. Total Circulation of the Teen NF Collection:
2010 – 2011 = 40%
2011 – 2012 = 70%
Switching to subject weeded out the books
gathering dust and made a more high-
interest collection ultimately increasing
circulation 30%
28.
29. Potential Topics:
Why was the collection suffering
Why we went with subject classification
How we made the system work
How other staff members and patrons felt
How the teens felt
Open Q&A panel with TAB members
30. Lindsey Tomsu & Members of the TAB
Teen Coordinator
La Vista Public Library
9110 Giles Road
La Vista, NE 68128
402-537-3900
ltomsu@cityoflavista.org