To Dewey, or not to Dewey?

That IS the question. If you're a librarian, you already know the problems with the Dewey Decimal System. If you are not, let me just point out some of the more egregious ones. I'll start by giving a brief description of how the system works.

Melville Dewey conceived of the system in 1873 and it was first implemented in 1876. He divided the world of knowledge into 10 categories:

• 0-99 General Information, Computer Science
• 100-199 Philosophy & Psychology 
• 200-299 Religion
• 300-399 Social Sciences
• 400-499 Language
• 500-599 (Pure) Science
• 600-699 Technology (Applied Science)
• 700-799 Arts & Recreation (originally Fine Arts)
• 800-899 Literature
• 900-999 History, Geography, Bibliography

Computer Science was squeezed into Gen Info when it was invented. "Recreation" (i.e. Sports, Film Making, Origami, Graphic Novels, etc.) was shoe-horned into Fine Arts. Technology is NOT Computers -- it's engineering, medicine, machines, and animal husbandry (pets, mostly). So, books about wild rabbits are in the 500s. Books about pet rabbits are in the 600s. Books about the moon are in the 500s. Books about going to the moon are in the 600s. Books about Greek Mythology are in the 200s. Books about ancient Greece are in the 900s. Some books about Muhammad Ali are in the 700s, some are in the 900s (looking at the subject headings gives me no clue why this is.) 

I could go on! Next time we'll look at the subheadings and the problems there before we move on to the impracticality of labeling.

Stay tuned!

Long Time, No See

It's been awhile, I know. So long, I'm probably talking to myself here -- but I wanted to try checking in and posting more regularly. After 14+ years as a school librarian running a library for 300 kids on my own, I now have some regular help a few hours every day. It's amazing how this has freed up my time! It makes me want to implement all my plans for revamping the layout of the collection. Future posts will be about those plans, so keep an eye out for how the experiment is going.

Hello? Is this thing on?

The Great Unexpected, by Sharon Creech
White Fur Flying, by Patricia MacLachlan
A Tangle of Knots, by Lisa Graff -- watch for upcoming author interview with her!

New Reviews

Here are my latest reviews from BookPage. My favorites from this list are King of the Mound and Ruby Redfort. The former is a great, quick, baseball read with plenty of cool history and the latter is full of humor and puzzles.

I Don't Believe It, Archie, by Andrew Norris
King of the Mound: My Summer with Satchel Paige, by Wes Tooke
Ruby Redfort: Look Into My Eyes, by Lauren Child
Chopsticks, by Amy Krouse
The Humming Room, by Ellen Potter

Overdue Books!

OK, not really. But here are the reviews I have done for BookPage that I have not posted yet. Sorry for the delay. Don't forget you can go directly to their site -- there are many great reviews for other books as well.

The Book of Wonders, by Jasmine Richards
Ice Island, by Sherry Shahan
The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy
Steampunk! -- anthology
A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness -- This book was particularly amazing. Cannot recommend it enough.
Liesl & Po, by Lauren Oliver -- Also one of my favorites. Definitely made me want to explore her other books.

Coming soon: The Humming Room, by Ellen Potter and two picture books.

Reviews!

DC Comics: The Ultimate Character Guide, by Brandon T. Snider

Eight Keys, by Suzanne LaFleur

Coming soon will be The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy, and The Cheshire Cheese Cat, by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright.

Still enjoying Good Reads -- please join me!

Social Networking

I have always had a love/hate relationship with Facebook. There are many wonderful things about it and many annoying ones as well. Google+ is a new social networking site that has some features that Facebook currently does not -- and which I think will be quite useful. I recently was able to get a Google+ account going and I'll keep you up to date here on the experiment.

I also just joined a network called Good Reads (goodreads.com) where you can list books you've read (with or without a review), books you are currently reading, and books you would like to read in the future. I am trying to add all my "have read" books, but it is going to take some time to get that done! If you join Good Reads, I'd be happy to friend you (assuming I know you) -- my handle is JenBK.

Keep checking BookPage for new reviews, I have been busy this summer reading and commenting!