Shelving. Examples of spine labels: REF FIC SC 520 SAL ABE TER GRE (PB)

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1 Shelving Returned materials have to be placed back in their proper location so that they can be easily located the next time they are wanted. It is important that you pay close attention to detail when you are shelving books. A book that is not in its correct location on the shelf is essentially a lost book because no one will be able to find it when it is needed. Books will be shelved on a daily basis, with each student assistant responsible for a particular Dewey or fiction section. As you shelve books, please straighten up any which have tipped over, move the books so that all the spines line up on the front of the shelf, and pick up any stray books so that they can be returned to their proper location. When shelving books you must remember the following items: All books have a spine label which identifies two things - the type of book and the author s last name. Thus, most books have two lines on the spine label; the exception to this rule is the reference materials which have three. The top line identifies the type of book. or F = Fiction, S = Short Story Collection, REF or R = Reference, and Dewey Decimal numbers like = Nonfiction. The second line of Reference Books will be a Dewey Decimal Number and the third line identifies the author s last name either by a single letter like L or with three letters like LES. On all other materials the second line will identify the author. Examples of spine labels: REF SC 520 SAL ABE TER GRE When shelving books, you use the information on the spine label to determine where they go. First you determine the type of book which tells you the general location, and then you place the book according to the Dewey Decimal Numbers and/or the author s last name if it is a work of fiction. Fiction: Fiction books are placed on the shelves alphabetically according to the author s last name. A fiction spine label has the following information. FAU The tells you this book belongs with the fiction portion of the collection. The FAU tells you this book belongs in the F s after FAR but before FEC, for example. And the PB tells you that this is a paperback copy of that title.

2 Our spine labels only show the first three letters of the author s last name. If there are multiple authors whose last names start with the same first three letters, it will be necessary to look to the rest of the author s name in order to shelve the books correctly. For example: Charles Dickens and Peter Dickenson. The spine labels will look identical on these books - /DIC. However, when the books are alphabetized using the complete last names, books by Charles Dickens will go on the shelf before books by Peter Dickenson. If the authors have the exact same last name, then it is necessary to use the authors first name for further alphabetical sorting. For example: Robert Stevenson and John Stevenson. Books by John Stevenson would go on the shelves before books by Robert Stevenson. Finally, if there is more than one book by the same author, then the books must be place on the shelf alphabetically by title. For example Mary Stewart has written The Crystal Cave, Nine Coaches Waiting and Touch Not the Cat. If you alphabetize these books by title, this is the order in which they should be found on the shelf. The following examples are fiction titles which have been place in the correct order based on the above rules. I have underlined the trigger word for alphabetizing purposes. ADL CHR CHR (HC) STE (HC) STE The Wake of the Red Witch by Robert Adler The Clocks by Agatha Christie Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie Mission Behind Enemy Lines by James Stevenson Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

3 TOR Night to Remember by Umberto Torres Nonfiction: Nonfiction books are placed on the shelves according to the Dewey Decimal system which is a subject based organization system. These books have been given numbers so that all the books written about a particular subject will be grouped on the shelf together. A nonfiction spine label has the following information: GRE The tells you this books belongs in the nonfiction section of the library, specifically where other books with the same call number are located. Nonfiction books are positioned first by Dewey Number and second by the author s last name. So you must locate the 900 s and look until you locate the 973 s. Multiple books may have the same Dewey number; this just means they have all been written about the same subject. When multiple books have the same Dewy Classification, you need to look at the author s last name and position the book alphabetically. For example: ALB CHA SUT YER If there are multiple books with the same Dewey Number written by the same author, you need to take it one step further and alphabetize by book title. For example Dana Bowen has written two books, Memories of the Lake and Lore of the Lake, which have the same call number 977/BOW. Because L comes before M, Lore of the Lakes needs to be shelved before Memories of the Lakes. Dewey numbers often will have numbers to the right of the decimal point (375.6), because this is how a subject is subdivided into more specific categories. For instance mammals (599), carnivores (599.7), and lions ( ). The numbers to the right of the decimal point must be taken into account when placing books on the shelf. As in word by word filing, the rule in Dewey shelving is nothing before something so.01 will always come before.1 so the example from above is in the order you would find those books on the shelf. Here is another set of examples in the correct shelf-list order based on their Dewey numbers: BER SAN SAN ADA

4 If you find no other books on the shelf with the identical number, then you position the book chronologically according to number. Ex: BEE ARC DAR SHE Reference: Reference books are identified by the REF above the call number and by the fact that they are the only books that will have three lines on their spine labels. Ex: REF REF REF ALM ANI ANN Reference books are shelved by their Dewey numbers in the Reference Section following the same rules as other nonfiction books. Dewey classification number first and then the author/editor s last name second. The hardest thing, it seems for students to understand, is that the reference section is a completely different section of nonfiction numbers. Biographies: Biographies are non-fiction books that have special filing rules. In this library biographies are shelved with the call numbers 92 and 920. The 92 s and the 920 s are shelved next to each other in the 900 section. This means that the 92 s do not go on the shelf between the 08 s and the 100 s. The 92 s which are known as individual biographies because they are about a single person, are shelved in alphabetical order by the name of the person the book is about. This is unique to biographies. This keeps all the books about the same person together, no matter the name of the author. For example: 92 Adolf Hitler: a Portrait in Tyranny by John Toland 92 Adolf Hitler: a Study in Tyranny by Alan Bullock 92 Hitler by Edward Dolan 92 The Last Days of Hitler by H. R. Trevor-Roper

5 The 920 s which are known as collective biographies because they are about several like people such as musicians, are shelved by author s last name like fiction. For example: 920 Science: 100 Essential Scientists by Jon Balchin BAL 920 American Musicians by Whitney Balliett BAL Periodicals: The back issues of periodicals are kept in the storage area. They are organized alphabetically by title and are grouped into boxes chronologically with the most recent issues in the front of the box. Each box is labeled as to title and year(s). Each hour will be assigned a specific section of periodicals to keep in order. Once a week returned periodicals need to be placed back into the appropriate storage box so they can be easily relocated for future circulation. When returning periodicals to these boxes, make sure you have the box for the right year and that you place the periodical into the box in chronological order: i.e. Jan, Feb, March etc. Some periodicals are issued weekly; these need to be reshelved according to these weekly dates i.e. Jan 7, 2008, Jan 14, 2008 etc. Within the boxes, the periodicals are arranged newest to oldest from the front of the box to the back.