[Genealib] Genealogy Room Set-up

Wed Jul 8 12:49:45 EDT 2009

Rather than attempting to have our Technical Services division modify their system to our needs, we have used a labeling system to organize the collection.

1.  A book arrives with whatever dewey number has been assigned.  

2.  We determine if we are dealing with a "State," "Foreign," or "General" item.

3.  State books have a label affixed above the call number using the postal abbreviation, e.g. TX.  If the book is on a specific county, a county label is placed below the call number, e.g. Collin County.
     Foreign books (those that concern records/subjects in that country) have a three character abbreviation above the call number, e.g. GER for Germany.  
     General books (not specific to state or a single country) are divided into broad categories like Immigration and Colonization, Military, Genealogies, etc.  The category symbol is placed above the call number and 
     the subcategory below.  

This puts more work on Genealogy staff initially (the labeling process), but it makes for a very browsable collection.  In the online catalog, the shelving location is indicated which cuts down on confusion for those who prefer to search.

As in other collectons, our State books are arranged alphabetically with general books first, then county books alphabetically.  The postal code for states above the call number was borrowed from Dallas Public Library.  The labeling of county books and Foreign books "concept" was borrowed from Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research (HPL).  The arrangement of General items into categories was a scheme I devised due to the fact that we had like items strewn over several different dewey classification call numbers.  

Technical Services is happy that I am not sending back 10% of our books for reclassification, and our patrons seem to enjoy browsing the new arrangement and are using items that were previously "lost" in the dewey maze.

David Allan Hardin, MSLIS
Genealogy Librarian Supervisor
Genealogy, Local History, Texana, and Archives Division
Plano Public Library System

________________________________

From: genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu on behalf of Curt Witcher
Sent: Wed 7/8/2009 10:59 AM
To: Librarians Serving Genealogists
Subject: RE: [Genealib] Genealogy Room Set-up

Colleagues,

While no classification system is perfect, we have used a modified
Dewey at the Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne for many years.  Our
customers tend to find it quick to pick-up, somewhat easy to understand,
and appreciate the shorter call numbers it tends to generate.  (What
helps them find things the easiest, though, is that all of our nearly
400K book materials are on open/browsable shelves. <g>)

The ACPL-Fort Wayne, IN classification scheme we use is detailed in the
following.

All U.S. material which is geographically oriented is classed in the
Dewey history number for the specific state involved.  That number is
further subdivided by an 01 for information about a specific county
within the state or by an 02 for information about a specific city
within the state.

As an example, a general book on Arkansas is classed in 976.7 and the
cutter formed from the author's last name.  So, Desmond Walls Allen's
book Genealogists' Arkansas Address Book has a call number in ACPL's
genealogy collection of 976.7 AL45g.  A book about a specific Arkansas
county is classified in 976.701 and cuttered under the name of the
county.  So, C. A. Stuck's book, The Story of Craighead County, Arkansas
has a specific call number of 976.701 C84s.  Finally, a book about a
specific Arkansas city is classed in 976.702 and cuttered under the name
of the city.  So, the city directory for Jonesboro, Arkansas has a call
number of 976.702 J73p.  This results in counties being "lined up"
alphabetically within each state, and cities "lined up"
alphabetically behind the counties.

Material which is geographically oriented but not U.S. in nature is
still organized much the same way.  Canadian material, for example, is
arranged first by the province and then either 01 or 02 is used to group
smaller sub-units within the province.

Material which is familial in nature, i.e., family histories, is put in
the 929.2 classification.  The cutter number for this material can
become somewhat convoluted as the first portion of the cutter is
assigned to reflect the family name being written about.  Thus, any book
about the Dana family will have a cutter beginning with D193; the Dance
Family, D195; and the Dancy family, D196.  Work letters are added after
these initial family cutter numbers to distinguish one title from
another concerning the same family.  These work letters are typically
derived from the author's or compiler's surname.  One book on the
Dance family may be Cuttered D195b and another D195w. 

Dewey Numbers

971        Canada
973       (Early Americana, Pre-20th Century Wars, etc.)
974        (New England)
974.1      Maine
974.2      New Hampshire
974.3      Vermont
974.4      Massachusetts
974.5      Rhode Island
974.6      Connecticut
974.7      New York
974.8      Pennsylvania
974.9      New Jersey

975        (The South)
975.1      Delaware
975.2      Maryland
975.3      Washington, D.C.
975.4      West Virginia
975.5      Virginia
975.6      North Carolina
975.7      South Carolina
975.8      Georgia
975.9      Florida

976        (Mid-South & Southwest)
976.1      Alabama
976.2      Mississippi
976.3      Louisiana
976.4      Texas
976.5  
976.6      Oklahoma
976.7      Arkansas
976.8      Tennessee
976.9      Kentucky

977        (Ohio Valley)
977.1     Ohio
977.2     Indiana
977.3     Illinois
977.4     Michigan
977.5     Wisconsin
977.6     Minnesota
977.8     Missouri
977.9    

978        (Northwest)
978.1      Kansas
978.2      Nebraska
978.3      South Dakota
978.4      North Dakota
978.5
978.6      Montana
978.7      Wyoming
978.8      Colorado
978.9      New Mexico

979         (Far West)
979.1       Arizona
979.2       Utah
979.3       Nevada
979.4       California
979.5       Oregon
979.6       Idaho
979.7       Washington
979.8       Alaska
979.9

996           Hawaii
994           Australia  

My two cents...give or take...

Curt
===-===

Curt B. Witcher, MLS, FUGA, IGSF
Manager, Genealogy Center
President, Indiana Genealogical Society
Allen County Public Library
P. O. Box 2270, 900 Library Plaza
Fort Wayne, IN  46801-2270
CWitcher at ACPL.Info
260-421-1226
Fax: 260-421-1386
===========================================
The views, opinions, and judgments expressed
in this message are solely those of the author.
The message contents have not been reviewed
or approved by the Allen County Public Library.
===========================================

>>> "Lyles, John" <jlyles at cvrls.net> 7/8/2009 11:03 AM >>>
We are currently changing our system to a modified version of the
Grigg
Classification Scheme see @
http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/cataloging/grigg.html

Our collection is arranged alpha by state within each state alpha by
county - call numbers mean nothing. The Grigg system keeps the same
organization alpha by state within each state alpha by county but now
gives meaning to the call numbers. This helps give consistency to the
way items were catalogued and in doing so helps with shelving,
identifying misplaced items  and allows me to make collection
development decisions in a snap - I can run a report for all titles
for
any state and/or county.

929.3 - Basic Genealogy number

A3ru - A3 is Alabama ru = Russell County

Cem -type of record and/or author name

John Lyles

Archivist

Chattahoochee Valley Libraries

3000 Macon Road

Columbus, GA 31906

706-243-2681

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