[Genealib] Genealogy Room Set-up

Wed Jul 8 12:09:23 EDT 2009

I replied to Chris off-line perhaps I should not have.  So I will do so
now.  Thanks for the nice comment about RPL.

Gretchen

Gretchen Beilfuss Witt
History Room Librarian
Gretchen.Witt at rowancountync.gov 

Edith M. Clark History Room
Rowan Public Library

P.O. Box 4039
Salisbury, NC  28145-4039

________________________________________________

Chris, 

I'm forwarding to you a response I gave a couple years ago on this
listserv for a similar question. 

If you put everything in strictly Dewey order - you'll get little
situations like - someone is looking for early churches in Rowan County
(284) and they are looking for Rowan census records (317) - not too far
apart in Dewey, but they are also looking for Rowan County Court records
a bit farther away (929).  In the History Room cataloging system they
are all in the same area.

The information following is the forward from before but gives specifics
about a different system.

Gretchen

Gretchen Beilfuss Witt
History Room Librarian
Gretchen.Witt at rowancountync.gov 

Edith M. Clark History Room
Rowan Public Library
P.O. Box 4039
Salisbury, NC  28145-4039

-----Original Message-----
From: Witt, Gretchen B. 
Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2006 4:53 PM
To: 'Librarians Serving Genealogists'
Subject: RE: [Genealib] Why do you rearrange your collection?

We have a specific cataloguing system that was designed for our local
history/genealogical room by Evelyn Stallings. 

	SEE - Arranging Roots: Classification and Subject Headings for
Genealogical Collections.   Blake, Linda; Stallings, 
		Evelyn T.; Library Resources & Technical Services, v41
n4 p335-46 Oct 1997 (EJ559844)

Basically, it is arranged geographically - 
	General research/genealogical research information
	Then broader immigration information like ship records, etc.; 
	A large section devoted to family history - alphabetically under
family name then author; 
	General US information geographically and time period basic
organizers - Colonial period, Revolutionary War, etc. 
	The remainder is basically States, then counties, then specific
areas or topics in each county for instance a book about the history of
St. John's Lutheran Church in Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina is
catalogued NC Row.55 
	NC (for North Carolina) Row - for Rowan County, .5 for church
related topic with added 5 (.55) for a Lutheran 	church).  Then
with a Cutter - Author or Title.  Census books are NC Row.38 with year
of census (1850);  and so on.  

Takes a little while to figure it out but organized geographically works
very well for most genealogical researchers.

Sincerely,

Gretchen Beilfuss Witt
History Room Librarian

Edith M. Clark History Room
Rowan Public Library
P.O. Box 4039
Salisbury, NC  28145-4039

-----Original Message-----
From: genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu
[mailto:genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu] On Behalf Of Laurie
Roberts
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 10:03 AM
To: Librarians Serving Genealogists
Subject: Re: [Genealib] Genealogy Room Set-up

We have recently reclassified our Virginia Room collection from the
cumbersome Dewey to the system developed by the Rowan Public Library in
North Carolina.  Our patrons have been very pleased!  

It is geographically oriented by state (alpha order), then by county
(alpha), and within those groupings are format or topic subgroups
(record type, historical period, ethnic or religious groups, etc).
Those materials that are not geographically focused are arranged
according to format or type of content (bibliographies, directories,
instruction, biographies, church histories, ethnic and
immigration/emigration, family histories, general histories).

The Rowan system is described in detail in "Notes on operations:
arranging roots: classification and subject headings for genealogical
collections" by Linda Blake and Evelyn T. Stallings in Library Resources
and Technical Services, v. 41, # 4, pp335-346.

The Greensboro Public Library (NC) uses an adaptation of Rowan's system,
combining Dewey and the geographic arrangements.

Maybe someone from Rowan or Greensboro would comment further?

I, too, would be interested in any other articles on other arrangement
schemes.

Laurie Roberts
Tazewell County Public Library
PO Box 929
Tazewell, VA  24651  

276 988 2541
276 988 5980 fax

--- On Tue, 7/7/09, Livingston, Christopher
<Christopher.Livingston at kerncountylibrary.org> wrote:

> Subject: [Genealib] Genealogy Room Set-up
> To: "genealib at mailman.acomp.usf.edu" <genealib at mailman.acomp..usf.edu>
> Date: Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 6:11 PM
> 
> I am new to Genealogy Librarianship. Our Genealogy Room is currently 
> set up by region and then by Dewey. I am wondering whether this is a 
> common practice for Genealogy Rooms/Libraries. Can anyone give me 
> examples of set-ups that are different? Would it be wrong to put the 
> room strictly in Dewey order? You can respond directly if you would 
> like to 
> christopher.livingston at kerncountylibrary.org<mailto:christopher.living
> ston at kerncountylibrary..org>
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Chris
> 
> Christopher B. Livingston
> Special Collections Librarian
> Beale Memorial Library
> 701 Truxtun Avenue
> Bakersfield, CA 93311
> www.kerncountylibrary.org
> 

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