John Ragni (rear) and Lea Ann Alexander of the Huie Library staff remove books from shelves in preparation for converting to the Library of Congress Classification system at Henderson State University. The process of changing more than 200,000 volumes in the collection over to a different organizational system will take all summer, according to Robert Yehl, the library director, but it will bring Henderson's library into the same system that most academic libraries use.
May 23, 2005
ARKADELPHIA - It's going to be a busy summer at Henderson State University's Huie Library. Workers already are in the process of shifting approximately 200,000 volumes around as the library converts from the Dewey Decimal Classification system to the Library of Congress Classification system.
Most libraries are organized according to one system or the other, according to Robert Yehl, director of Huie. Most academic libraries use the Library of Congress system, so Henderson will be joining the "vast majority" of institutions of higher learning in converting to that system, he said. Henderson is a member of the Council on Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) and has been the only member using the Dewey Decimal System.
The Dewey Decimal Classification, which is the most widely used system in public libraries and K-12 school libraries, organizes knowledge through a three-digit number system, from 000 to 900, to identify generalities; philosophy and psychology; religion; social sciences; language; natural sciences and mathematics; technology (applied sciences); the arts; literature and rhetoric; and geography and history. Each subject within a classification is further numbered, and subcategories within those classifications are further numbered after the decimal point. The result can be a book with an identification number that is longer than the spine of the book is wide.
The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) is a classification system that was first developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to organize and arrange the book collections of the Library of Congress. Over the course of the 20th century, the system was adopted for use by other libraries as well, especially large academic libraries in the United States. It is currently one of the most widely used library classification systems in the world. The Library's Cataloging Policy and Support Office maintains and develops the system, posting weekly lists of updates on its web site.
The system divides all knowledge into twenty-one basic classes, each identified by a single letter of the alphabet: general works; philosophy, psychology, religion; auxiliary sciences of history; history (general) and history of Europe; history: America; geography, anthropology, recreation; social sciences; political science; law; education; music and books on music; fine arts; languages and literature; science; medicine; agriculture; technology; military science; naval science; and bibliography, library science, information resources (general). Most of these alphabetical classes are further divided into more specific subclasses, identified by two-letter, or occasionally three-letter, combinations. For example, class N, Art, has subclasses NA, Architecture; NB, Sculpture, ND, Painting; as well as several other subclasses.
Each subclass includes a loosely hierarchical arrangement of the topics pertinent to the subclass, going from the general to the more specific. Individual topics are often broken down by specific places, time periods, or bibliographic forms (such as periodicals, biographies, etc.). Each topic (often referred to as a caption) is assigned a single number or a span of numbers. Whole numbers used in LCC may range from one to four digits in length, and may be further extended by the use of decimal numbers. Some subtopics appear in alphabetical, rather than hierarchical, lists and are represented by decimal numbers that combine a letter of the alphabet with a numeral. Relationships among topics in LCC are shown not by the numbers that are assigned to them but by indenting subtopics under the larger topics that they are a part of, much like an outline. In this respect, it is different from more strictly hierarchical classification systems, such as the Dewey system, where hierarchical relationships among topics are shown by numbers that can be continuously subdivided.
Yehl said the library would hire a dozen extra workers to assist 16 library staff with the project. Over 8,000 fiction volumes, for example, have been pulled from their shelves on the second floor of the library and now line the floor space on the third floor. The library is now receiving labels with the Library of Congress classification number, labels that also have the books' Dewey numbers. Workers will check the title, check the Dewey number, find the book, label the book and then put the volume on a cart. When the cart is filled, it will be handed off to another team to reshelve in its new location (which may not be on the same floor).
The chief benefit of the changeover to LCC, Yehl said, is simplification of cataloging the library's collection. "The complaints about Dewey are that the books can go in a number of different places," he said. "This will let us have the similar books together."
Book numbers also will be simplified, he noted. "Some Deweys have 12 numbers after the decimal point," Yehl said. "With LCC, there are never more than two letters and four digits. And the third number stands for the author."
The library's hours will be restricted during the summer months while the work is going forward. Open hours through May 27 will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. only on Monday through Friday. Patrons will not be allowed access to the second and third floors. Yehl said books will be difficult to find, and he suggested that those who want to check out a book to give the title and call number to the circulation desk and have a staff member get the book. This policy will be in effect until the project is completed, which is scheduled for late August.
Open hours during the two summer sessions beginning May 31 will be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The library will be closed on Fridays during the summer sessions. The library will be open on Sundays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. when summer school is in session. Patrons will not have access to second and third floors during the summer sessions. The library staff will retrieve items for patrons.
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