KILLING DEWEY Jezmynne Dene, MLIS

Portneuf District Library

Chubbuck, ID 83202

jezmynne.dene@portneuflibrary.org

WHO WE ARE

Small library in Chubbuck, Idaho 12,000 patrons in our database

18,000 in our population area

13 employees

46,000 items, 6,000 non-book items

A library that needed a theme

ABOUT OUR USERS

Browsers

Fiction readers

This side of the Digital Divide

OUR INSPIRATION

Overcrowded, unused collection

Visit to Anythink! in Denver

WHAT WE DID

Studied BISAC headings

Made our own headings

WHAT WE DID

Used words instead of nonsensical

numbers and decimal points

WHERE DID WE CHANGE

Nonfiction first User surveys

Juvenile nonfiction second Matched juvenile nonfiction to school projects

WHEN DID WE CHANGE

PLAN A:

Initially going to do section by section Create space, pull and relabel materials

Pull one heading at a time

WHEN DID WE CHANGE

UNPLANNED B:

Renovation Boxed the library, in rough order of new headings

Unboxed in rough order

HOW DID WE CHANGE

Planned! One year

Weeded, heavily!

Created our subject headings and sub categories

Planned our new labels

Planned shelves and locations

WHY WE DID IT

Better categories

OUR categories

Mimic bookstore browsing

Make more sense for our community

HOW LONG IT TOOK

Closed 2 weeks for renovations

Unboxing in a few days

8 weeks to relabel No dedicated staff for the job

SO WHAT HAPPENED?

Deleted ~2000 nonfiction books

Purchased many new nonfiction books

9800 adult nonfiction books

3600 juvenile nonfiction books

New labels

SO WHAT HAPPENED?

Hugely positive response from users

Better organization and display of

materials

Improved ‘browseability’

Improved finding for users and staff

SO WHAT HAPPENED?

As we relabeled, we changed the

catalog records

Created ‘shelf locations’ for nonfiction

sections Able to pull stats on each section to see use

SO WHAT HAPPENED?

Significant circulation increase 250% increase of nonfiction circ

90% overall circulation increase

Biography section increased

SO WHAT HAPPENED?

Staff Reactions Some not on board at first

All on board after seeing the results

User Reactions LOVE IT.

PROS:

Better browsing for users

Super easy to shelf read

Super easy to find things

Helped us hone and define our

nonfiction collection

CONS:

Some additional work for ordering

Some additional work for cataloging

Where do we stuff donations?

NEXT STEPS:

FICTON Already done a pilot with paperbacks

Choose genres

Cross genre authors in one place

SO WHAT DO YOU NEED?

Weed – remove the deadfall

Create or choose your categories

Plan for change All at once?

Parts at a time?

SO WHAT DO YOU NEED?

Storage space

Lots of labels

Lots of label covers

Lots of boxes

A plan for keeping things organized

GETTING BUY IN

Field trips to libraries

Propose a pilot project

Share success stories you hear Us, Anythink!, Maricopa County Arizona

BUT WE’VE ALWAYS DONE

IT THAT WAY!

Yes. We have. But it’s time to try new

things

Teaching Dewey in schools?

QUESTIONS?

Please ask!

THANK YOU!

Jezmynne Dene, MLIS

Portneuf District Library

Chubbuck, Idaho 83202

jezmynne.dene@portneuflibrary.org