[Web4lib] RE: [lita-l] Innovation: NYT article on Dewey-lessArizona public library

[Robert L. Balliot]

I thought it was an intellectual system. I do not believe
that cataloging is merely about the end product, the path
and method of classification also have intrinsic benefits.

When I cataloged, the process of organization allowed me
to better understand the collections and to judge what
would compliment the body of knowledge.  I think that you
can use computerized interfaces to help enable the public
to find material faster, but at the same time I think that
you can also end up making the librarians less effective
when they are distanced from the problem solving process.

Nothing in the description of services in the article was
innovative. It certainly may work to reach whatever goals
that organization has, but it does not represent anything
we are not already doing.   In the PLs a large part of the
collections - fiction and biography are already organized
by genre and author/title.

*************************************************
Robert L. Balliot
1-401-421-5763
Skype: RBalliot
Bristol, Rhode Island
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm
*************************************************
-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of K.G. Schneider
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 11:26 PM
To: lita-l at ala.org; web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] RE: [lita-l] Innovation: NYT article on Dewey-lessArizona
public library


The reporter didn't make that stuff up, and you can peruse the PUBLIB
archives for more examples of the same. (I can't seem to get access to
AUTOCAT, no matter how many times I try to register, so I can't speak for
that list.)

It was disappointing to me that most of the reaction on the PUBLIB list was
about how it was not going to work... before the project even launched. The
general trend of most posts are now, "Well, it would work under very limited
circumstances, BUHHHHHHHHHHT..." 

I didn't know we had so much invested in Dewey. Me, I thought it was an
inventory system. 

Karen G. Schneider