Let’s Put Dewey Decimal Books Where Students Can Find Them!

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Barbara Paciotti

School Librarians strive to create a student-friendly library. For me, this means minimizing the time it takes students to find what they need. Accordingly, I tell them to search the OPAC By Subject and the results will show them the Dewey number for the location of those books. Unfortunately, there’s nothing more frustrating to a student—or to me—than getting a list with several widely different Dewey numbers.

Every one of us, at some point, wonders why a book has a Dewey Decimal Number that places it in a certain location, yet another book on the same topic has a different Dewey number placing it in a different location—sometimes at opposite ends of the library! Should we change the number on one of them? Which one is “correct”? What if there are several books at both—or multiple—locations?

I am not a Dewey purist, so I say we can be flexible with Dewey Decimal Numbers: put a book where students will find it.

IT’S OK TO CHANGE A DEWEY NUMBER

Remember that the Dewey Decimal Classification System was designed to organize knowledge by discipline, that is, by the field of study of those who’d use the information. Library of Congress catalogers use that principle when they assign Dewey numbers for Cataloging-in-Publication (CIP) data, and usually it works fine in our school libraries. But, sometimes the Dewey number for adults working in a field isn’t compatible with the topical curricular needs of our PreK-12 students.

Our young ones look for books by subject or topic, and they expect to find all of them together. I often change a Dewey number to put a book where students will look for it. In fact, changing a Dewey number for student access actually fulfills the very purpose of Dewey Classification: “works that are used together to be found together.” For kids we can take some creative license and redo the numbers on books if they will be more useful in another location.

I know there are arguments against changing Dewey numbers, but I believe they lack validity. Here’s my reasoning:

Don’t worry about “the next librarian.” Who of us has memorized DDC numbers past the 10 main classes? The next librarian will be as concerned about student access as we are, and will be grateful that books are where everyone can more easily find them.
Finding something in a different library? Who remembers the Dewey number of a particular book? A book search will tell them the location of any book in that library. So what if it’s different from ours as long as they can locate it.
Even professional catalogers may disagree about where a book “belongs.” That’s straight from the cataloging professor when I took the course for my library degree!
The most compelling argument for making changes is that LOC and OCLC continuously make changes to DDC to meet the changing needs of society. Each new publication of DDC and Abridged DDC has numerous pages of Dewey number additions, deletions, substitutions, and revisions that have been made since the previous publication. Sometimes they’ll change a whole section, like moving pets from the 500s to 600s or travel guides from the 600s to 900s. Dewey is meant to accommodate patron needs.

USEFUL MODIFICATIONS USING DEWEY NUMBERS

For books with multiple subjects, DDC follows the rule of two or rule of three. This means books are assigned to the first, or lowest, Dewey Decimal Number that includes both/all disciplines. If you weren’t aware of this, it may explain why certain books are where they are…especially so many in the 300s!

These 2 rules are particularly annoying when applied to computer books, typically found in 004 and 005. When students are looking for books about computers, they’re thinking of the manufactured physical product. Since the 600s are Applied Science & Technology, that’s where students are more likely to look for it, and since I changed such books. the computer books are checked out much more than they were in the 000s.

Sometimes it makes sense to group books together in one Dewey class to make them all more accessible. A librarian’s recent LM_NET post asked about David Macaulay’s book “Unbuilding,” a fictional dismantling of the Empire State Building. It was classified in 690 Buildings, but she had 3 books on the construction of the Empire State Building in 974.71, which is the number for the State of New York’s History.

Historians (and perhaps NY students) would expect to find a significant event like ESB in the history of New York State, but who else would? My middle school library had books on buildings (including several by Macaulay) scattered in 300s, 600s, 700s, 900s, even 000s (about libraries!). I changed them all to 690 Buildings where students would more logically find them, and within a few days the shelf was bare…boys saw them and couldn’t check them out fast enough!

HELPFUL ALTERNATE DEWEY NUMBERS

To make a Dewey section more useful for students we may need to make a more extensive alteration of Dewey numbers. One of the first changes I made resulted from an elementary librarian’s suggestion on LM_NET. Few of us have 398.2 Folk literature differentiated between fairy tales, legends, fables, myths, and tall tales, yet that’s how our students study them. There are already Dewey numbers that align with these literary types as a better way to organize folktales. These changes rejuvenated my folktale section, and I’m sure they will do the same for you:

Fairy tales=398.21 Paranatural beings of human/semihuman form
Legends=398.22 Legendary or mythological persons
Fables=398.24 Plants & animals, real & legendary
Myths and creation stories=398.26 Physical phenomena
Tall tales=398.27 Everyday human life, historical/quasi historical events
Multicultural tales I changed to 398.23 Places and times from 398.2089. That allowed me to reduce 2 decimal numbers then add one back indicating continent of origin according to Table 2 Geographic areas.

Another mess is the 920 Collected biographies. A spine label with 920 and the author’s 3 letters is not user-friendly for anyone, especially not for kids. DDC offers an alternative called Option A, which uses numbers 921-928 to align with main Dewey Classes! I used them to completely redo my 920s. Students loved the change and circulation of those biographies dramatically increased!

CREATIVE ADJUSTMENTS TO DEWEY

Addictive Substances was a problematic topic for my students because it appears in 3 different Dewey numbers—362.29, 613.8, and 616.86—depending on whether the book is about addiction as a social problem, as personal health & safety, or as a disease. To simplify access for students needing books about drugs, I decided to put all the books in 616.86.

Here’s the “creative” part: For similar drugs the Dewey number additional decimals are wildly different. After careful analysis, I decided to adjust some of the thousandths numbers to create a more consistent grouping of drugs for 616.86. Students immediately noticed the larger drug section, thought I’d purchased new books, and their circulation skyrocketed. Learn more about creative Dewey in my e-Book, available in my TPT store.

LOC and OCLC have begun to make DDC culturally responsive, but School Librarians must be especially responsive to the diversity of students we serve. DDC’s application of expansion numbers for racial, cultural, ethnic, and national groups is inconsistent. In a search for something that could apply across all Dewey numbers, I found that Table 2 Geographic areas lists numbers for the continents that can be added as an identifier. It’s the familiar one added after 9 in the 900s. I decided to use them as “Continent of origin” for cultural and ethnic grouping, so I’ve adjusted and even created numbers in various sections of the school library to overcome Dewey’s racial and cultural biases. You can read more about it in my e-Book!

I applied this “Continent of origin” concept to books in 305.8 Groups of people, 398.23 Multicultural folktales, and 920 Collected biographies. My biggest change was gathering books together to create two completely new sections in 973 U.S. History: 973.04 Multicultural U.S. History and 973.08 Multicultural America about which I’ve written before.

I made other significant changes to 973 U.S. History by removing all the State books except our own, because a) it’s the only one our middle school students study, and b) because more accurate information about states is available online. I kept many topically relevant books found among those state Dewey numbers, and moved them to a better Dewey section, such as putting books about 9-11 in 364.1 Criminal offenses where we have other terrorism books. I also redid the Dewey number into the appropriate time period for timely U.S. history books, like the original colonies and westward expansion.

IS THIS WORTH IT?

You may be thinking, hey…this is way too much work! I admit, it takes some extra time up front, but just do a little bit at a time—not all of it at once. I typically pull out odd books while shelving, attach a stickie note with the new number, then make changes when I have a few minutes free at the circulation desk. For new books I may have to redo spine labels and cataloging for selected topics, but it doesn’t take that long.

Here are the greatest benefits for changing Dewey numbers:

It’s easier for students to browse like-topic books, which excites them.
It’s faster for students to find the books they need, which pleases teachers who seem to think students waste time looking for things in the library.
It increases circulation, which satisfies our administrators who may think the library is just an add-on.

If changing Dewey Decimal numbers changes people’s minds about our School Library Program, then I believe it is totally worth it!

I hope this has convinced you to make changes to Dewey Decimal numbers on some of your books so they are more accessible for students. There are no “Dewey Police” that come into our library to check number assignments and lock us up for making Dewey changes, so let’s go ahead and DO IT! Our students will thank us, and that’s all the reason I need.

MAKE DEWEY EVEN EASIER WITH SIGNAGE

Even with Dewey number changes, the best way to help kids locate books is better library signage. If you like the above examples of colorful labels I created for my Dewey shelves, you can get Dewey Subject Signs & Shelf Labels in my NoSweat Library store on TPT. Your students, like mine, will enjoy looking at your new signage and discovering topics within the library they hadn’t known about before!

The real key to helping students locate books is teaching them how to locate a decimal number on the shelf. Teaching the DDC is a colossal waste of time. Work with your math teachers to create a hands-on lesson about place value and sequencing. To learn more about this, read my blog post Do We Teach Dewey … or Don’t We? A School Library Lesson.

Bulletin Boards & the School Library

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Barbara Paciotti

When I began my School Librarian position, I didn’t have any bulletin boards and I didn’t care—I didn’t see the point in “cutesy” bulletin boards. Rather, I focused on decor for the rather bare 2-year-old library, installing purposeful posters and informational signage. One day I realized that folks had to decide to enter the library to see what’s there, and if I had bulletin boards outside the school library, I could entice students and teachers to make full use of everything the library had to offer.

Now, Bulletin Boards are my primary way to promote the School Library to students, faculty, administration, and visitors! It doesn’t cost much because I don’t use prepackaged theme pieces; instead I create my own signage with slide presentation software that allows for a variety of text and graphics on 11″ x 8.5″ signs. I print them in color and laminate so they can be reused from year to year.

For any bulletin board, what we display and how often we update depends on how many boards we have and where they are located. By designating certain bulletin boards for certain purposes, and carefully planning for long-term display, we can minimize the time needed to create and maintain them, yet still have them convey valuable and relevant information.

IN-LIBRARY BULLETIN BOARD

The first bulletin board I installed was a 3′x4′ one inside the library, on a wall next to the circulation desk. I put up a calendar for planning class visits, but after switching to an online library calendar that could be viewed by anyone in the building, I turned the bulletin board into a place to display the “nuts & bolts” of my Library Program so our operation is completely transparent to visitors. This board is all business, but that’s its purpose, and the infrequent updates are quite easy to do. Signs and items on the bulletin board include:

Library Program Mission Statement – This sign typically stays the same for 2-3 years, and reflects my current Strategic Plan.
My Professional Information Literacy Theme – I create a new Info-Lit theme when I rewrite my Strategic Plan. It’s my personal goal for focusing Library Lessons to integrate with classroom subject content and new technology.
Monthly Library Schedule – I simply print this out from online calendar the first day of each month. Anyone can see who’s scheduled for library use, and I can pencil in notes when planning with teachers.
Library Activity Report – This is an infographic I create at the end of each 9-week grading period. I submit one copy to the principal and mount one on the bulletin board.
Public Library News & Events – Our school area includes 2 different city libraries and their Youth Librarians provide me with info and flyers, especially for the start of the school year and before each school break.

GRADE LEVEL BULLETIN BOARDS FOR SUBJECT CONTENT

Our school library is in the center of the building, surrounded by four hallways, so I mounted a 4′x4′ bulletin board in each of the three hallways that border our 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade wings to promote reading and using the library.

I designed a sign system to set them up at the start of the school year and not have to redo them, yet I can change individual signs to coordinate with subject area classroom activities during the school year. Each bulletin board includes a series of customized signs:

A grade-level Information Literacy Theme sign that reflects my lesson focus for that grade at the top left corner.
A grade-level English/Language Arts Unit Theme sign in the center. This sign changes for each 9-week grading period.
A grade-level Social Studies Theme sign in the bottom right corner to promote their Special collections: “Read Around the World” for 6g, “Read Your Way through Texas History” for 7g, and “Read America” for 8g. I keep bookmark pockets filled with reading log bookmarks for this reading promotion program.
I add smaller signs for other subject area classes that visit the library during the grading period, like infographics of online services for research projects. These change each grading period, too.
Students can create a book review on a 3″x5″ index card and staple it on the board. It’s a great way to involve students and to update bulletin boards without a lot of extra work.

Teachers really appreciate that I coordinate these bulletin boards with their subject content, and students constantly see them as they move between their classes.

MONTHLY THEMATIC BULLETIN BOARD

The 4^th bulletin board is located in the hallway near student bathrooms and is visible to nearly everyone on their way to the cafeteria. I share this 4′x4′ board with others so we can have a new theme for each month of the school year yet I don’t have to do it every month.

Heritage displays

September is decorated by our Spanish teachers and student Spanish Club for Hispanic Heritage Month, February is decorated by our Black History Month Committee (which includes students), and May‘s Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month is decorated by our ELL teacher and her students (we have a large Asian population in our school). All these groups use wonderful accessories to dress up and draw attention to the board and share classroom activities. I support that by displaying books inside the library that coordinate with each heritage, such as related biographies and authors.

November is Native American Heritage Month, and I use the board for an Indigenous Peoples Around the World display to bring awareness of this issue and support our IB program. I create the display by continent and post signs with historical insights or quotations, along with pictures of book covers of our indigenous collection, including books by and about Native Americans.

Topical displays

The March board is handled by the Fine Arts Department to feature Music in Schools Month and Youth in Art month. The April board is handled by the Math and Science teachers for Math Awareness Month and Earth Month, which includes highlights from our student Recycling Club. October is National Bullying Prevention Month and National Red Ribbon Week. Our school counselors—and student office aides—take on the bulletin board since they sponsor Red Ribbon Week and bullying also falls under their purview.

December is a short month with our winter break, so I post coming activities at our public libraries to encourage students to visit the library and continue reading during the break.

January is for our district Internet Safety Month, during which all librarians present lessons to our schools. National Internet Safety Month is actually in June, but since we aren’t in school, our district has chosen January for these important lessons with the theme Be Safe in Cyberspace and Become a Digital Citizen. In addition to the board, student-created posters from my Library Lessons are displayed around the hallways.

The monthly thematic bulletin board is popular with teachers, especially those who otherwise don’t have a public bulletin board on which to display their subject content classroom activities. Because students contribute to these displays, they are more meaningful to all students.

GET MORE!

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Becoming a Culturally Responsive School Librarian

Posted on February 25, 2018 by Barbara Paciotti

February’s Black History Month is an important national celebration and a busy time for School Librarians. As I read and hear about activities I often wonder:

What will School Librarians do about Black History during other months of the school year?
How will we honor other cultural groups throughout the school year?

We need to consider all aspects of our School Library Program and ask: How can we, as School Librarians, make ourselves, our Library Collection, and our Library Lessons culturally responsive to all students?

OUR OWN CULTURAL ATTITUDES

I believe our school libraries reflect the beliefs and attitudes that we School Librarians have toward others. Our collection development, our library decor, our library lessons, and how we interact with our students reflects that. We must examine our own attitudes carefully: Do we consider someone of a different race, ethnicity, or cultural background with “empathy/sympathy” or with “respect”? They are quite the opposite!

Both empathy and sympathy stem from the Greek ‘pathos’—feeling—and relate to suffering. Both apply to a sharing with another individual; when carelessly associated with groups, it may engender either shame or arrogance about our own background.

Conversely, respect is from the Latin ‘respectus’—looking at—and connotes regard and consideration. It is more encompassing; respect impels us to see the glory in the culture and heritage of others. If we have respect for the culture and heritage of others, then we will choose materials, presentations, and conversations that build positive cultural awareness among our students and teachers.

Be passionate about affirming respect in personal interactions. One year we had a substitute teacher who spent his entire lunch break complaining about “those kids” and their behavior or language or ability. I finally challenged him: ‘I was tired of hearing him complain about our kids, and if they bothered him so much why didn’t he just quit coming to our building?’ I informed our principal that I had “mouthed off” to the sub, and she was relieved someone had finally spoken up, as were other teachers who heard about it! (thankfully he never returned.)

I’m not promoting myself here. I’m trying to say that we may be inclined to ignore such actions, but supporting any and all of our kids when necessary will ensure that students have an upbuilding educational experience in our libraries and our schools, and that impacts everyone’s future.

OUR LIBRARY COLLECTION

Can your students find themselves in your school library collection? Students can’t develop pride in their culture and heritage if they never read about its positive aspects, and students won’t develop respect for other cultural backgrounds if they only know about their own. Expanding awareness through reading builds pride and respect.

I was fortunate to be the librarian at the most diverse middle school in our district: 33% African-American, 25% Asian, 25% Euro/Anglo, 15% Latinx, and 2% Native Nation. One year our ELL students spoke 30 different languages. I was initially impressed with the collection in the 2-year-old school library, yet later that year a library course on multicultural books helped me discover how few resources we had for 75% of our students:

A few books on slavery and the Civil Rights Movement, but nothing about African-American culture or other time periods.
Numerous books on countries, but nothing on Latinx or Asian culture, events, or place in U.S. history.
Typical food/festivals/folktales books for various cultural groups, but few on other aspects of culture and none on contemporary society or issues, especially emigration/immigration.
Some reference books but few individual biographies about Black, Latinx, Asian, or Native Nation people.
A few historical fiction books or award-winners about other cultures/ethnic groups—many by authors who didn’t represent who they were writing about—but meager contemporary realistic Fiction.

Over the years I worked hard to acquire materials that were more representative of our school and that would broaden our students’ perspective on the U.S. and its history:

A more comprehensive view of slavery
- ante-bellum personal narratives & biographies, such as Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, and Solomon Northrup
- slave resistance and rebellions, and runaway slave communities such as those in Florida and Mexico
- U.S. court cases where slaves prevailed
- Slaves and former slaves who fought, spied, or worked with Union soldiers during the Civil War
Various cultures, ethnic groups, and time periods in U.S. History
- from the Trail of Tears to the American Indian Movement;
- from early Meso-American settlement to United Farm Workers to contemporary border issues;
- from the Transcontinental Railroad to WWII Internment Camps to Southeast Asian refugees;
- the Harlem Renaissance and African-American roots of contemporary music.
Contemporary non-fiction about art, music, family life, and other cultural elements over a wide range of ethnicity.
Individual biographies about Blacks, Latinx, Asians, and Native Nations from ancient to modern times (Eventually encompassing 42% of the biography collection.)
Historical and Contemporary Realistic Fiction by and about all races, ethnicities, and cultural groups in various situations and locations in the U.S. and other countries

Building a culturally diverse collection is essential, but we must analyze both the quantity and the quality of diverse books on our shelves. Here are a few sources I use for recommendations on quality reading material:

What books are in your personal library?

Even with authoritative recommendations, I believe we can only choose quality diverse material for our school library if we cultivate a broader view through personal reading about culture and history. I began my own quest in college with 2 books that still reside on my shelf—No More Lies by Dick Gregory and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. Currently I have at least 5-feet of multicultural non-fiction and fiction books on the bookshelves in my home office.

OUR LIBRARY LESSONS

A while ago I read something in a blog post that embodies my mindset for Library Lessons, and, with slight rephrasing, I believe this goal can enable all school librarians to be culturally responsive teachers:

Teach students of all cultural backgrounds to love themselves.

Black History Month can bring out the worst in our lack of cultural respect for Black Americans. I’m referring here to slavery simulations. This is an example where supposed “em/sym-pathy”—expecting students to “feel slavery”—is dispiriting and devoid of cultural benefit. Rafranz Davis states it even more boldly:

If your idea of “celebrating” the contributions of Black people during the month of February is a lesson in slavery…you are the one that needs a lesson in history and the countless contributions that we not only have made but are still making.

I’m not suggesting we avoid the discussion of slavery, but rather use care about how and when we do it, and include topics like those I mentioned earlier. I’m reminded of a TED talk by Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: “The consequence of the single story is this—that it robs people of dignity.”

Slavery can’t be the only story our students—regardless of color, ethnicity, or cultural background—hear about the history of Blacks in America. The Holocaust can’t be the only story they hear about Jews. Terrorism can’t be the only story they hear about Muslims. Pearl Harbor can’t be the only story they hear about Asians. Undocumented workers can’t be the only story they hear about Latinx. And Thanksgiving can’t be the only story they hear about our Native Nations.

When developing Library Lessons, I ask myself:

How can I make this lesson culturally responsive for all my students?
- Can I choose a wider range of resources?
- Does the activity allow for the cultural learning styles of all students?
- Am I phrasing my topic in a culturally sensitive manner?
Is this lesson building respect for all students?

A RESPECTFUL SCHOOL LIBRARY PROGRAM

With the divisiveness that currently pervades our society, it’s imperative for School Librarians to build respect for other cultures/races/ethnicities in every facet of our School Library Program. We can’t just promote heritage celebrations for a month. We must work diligently, and throughout the school year, to be culturally responsive with ourselves, our library collection, and our Library Lessons. It’s the only way our students can learn to love themselves.

Looking Backward – No Sweat Library Lessons & Management That Works

Reflections from A Middle School Librarian

Tag Archives: culturaldiversity