I understand the need for a Dewey number, but I still don't understand the need for a database control number, a barcode and an international standard book number (ISBN).
The Dewey number helps you find a book by subject, author's last name and shelf location, but it seems to me that one number ought to suffice for the other three (the database control number, the barcode and the ISBN). With the new ILS system, I hope we'll be able to use only one, probably the barcode, instead of all three.
To add consternation to confusion, we also file books by category (fiction, non-fiction), genre (mystery, romance, health, fitness, test prep, career), format (large print, small print), popularity (best sellers), publication date (new releases), age (adult, teen, ychildren), location (North America, Europe, Asia)and size (paperback and trade paperback.
After library school and three years' professional experience, the system is still not clear to me. I guess you can't comprehend it until you've served in the trenches. Working at Bay Terrace, maybe now I will understand.
When the little cloud of tobacco smoke was on the computer yesterday, a customer asked on behalf of another customer when she was going to be done. On her way out of the library she assured me that she always obeys the rules and then said to her inquirer, "Thanks for sticking your nose where it don't belong." Today she wouldn't get off the express computer even though another customer was waiting to use the computer and was worried about her mother-in-law with whom she'd left her children in the playground nearby. Do as I say, not as I do.
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