[Genealib] New library question **** arrangement

[Douthwaite, Lesley - HPL]

I probably should elaborate a little more on Trevia's answer. For books in
Clayton's USA section we use straight Dewey arrangement, but that's the only
part of the library that uses Dewey. For books in our state section, the
arrangement is alphabetically by state. Within each state we have books
arranged in three sections; first of all books on the state in general or on
more than one county - these are arranged alphanumerically in Cutter order.
Secondly we have books on individual counties; again these are arranged
alphabetically by the name of the county, with arrangement within the county
by Cutter order. Thirdly we have our bound periodicals on each state,
arranged in one alphabetical sequence at the end of the state, irrespective
of whether they are periodicals for the whole state or for individual
counties.

Our foreign materials are arranged alphabetically by country, with a further
breakdown in same cases (e.g. Great Britain, which has a general section and
then is broken down into England - Ireland - Scotland - Wales, and Canada,
which has general materials first, and then divided up into provinces). In
each case the arrangement within the section is by Cutter number.

Our family histories, as Trevia says, are arranged by the main family name.
Of course we always encourage researchers to check our catalog for family
histories, (as we do for all our books) to ensure that they don't miss any
titles where the name they are looking for is not the main family name.

I'm sure Trevia would agree that our researchers like the arrangement much
more than the Dewey arrangement we used to use - it's much more intuitive
and user-friendly. Sometimes it takes a while for them to understand the
Cutter number order, and they may have a hard time wondering why several
books in the same section may have the same Cutter number, but once we've
explained it most people do fine. And often we do have to explain that if
someone is looking for a book in the USA section they will need a Dewey
number, even though they don't need one elsewhere. But on the whole we're
very happy with our system, and I think our users are too.

Lesley Douthwaite 
Assistant Manager 
Clayton Library, Center for Genealogical Research 
5300 Caroline 
Houston, TX 77004 
832-393-2610 
lesley.douthwaite at cityofhouston.net 


-----Original Message-----
From: Trevia Wooster Beverly [mailto:treviawbeverly at comcast.net] 
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 8:47 AM
To: Librarians Serving Genealogists
Subject: Re: [Genealib] New library question **** arrangement 

Pam's reply made me realize I did not go far enough  with my earlier answer.

We do the same thing at Clayton ... general and then by counties but within 
those county sections, arranged by the Dewey number.  In the state section, 
the 'general' books are in Dewey order.
In the family section, the Surname in alpha order, or by the "major" 
surname.
   Trevia

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