Are Dewey's Days Numbered?

Litzinger, Vicki

CO, IL
Kaplan, Tali Balas; Dolloff, Andrea K.; Giffard, Sue; Still-Schiff, Jennifer (2012). Are Dewey's days numbered? School Library Journal, 58(10), 24-28, Retrieved from
http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=b46387fb-51f0-4951-ae36-db17395d954d%40sessionmgr102&vid=4&hid=118&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=83527019&db=llf.

Summary/Evaluation

This article explains the process from idea to conception of doing away with Dewey and creating a new system--categories, subcategories, order, call numbers, and labels--that met the needs of the users at Ethical Cultural Fieldston School in New York City. Two of their earliest questions were "Why are we using decimals in a children's library, when they don't learn that until fourth-grade math? And why are our picture books arranged by author, when most children are more interested in the content than in who wrote the book?" (p26) They turned to the work of Linda Cooper, a professor at New York's Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Science who studied the ways that children categorize topics and themes, and integrated students thoughts into the planning of the new system. They also developed three guiding principles to keep them on track. The new system had to be child-centered, browsable, and flexible. After two years of hard work, they have found that students, teachers, parents, and the rest of the community love the new system, and that they are "better able to collaborate and support the school-wide curriculum." (28)

It was very validating for me to read this article and discovering that colleagues have had the same questions as I have. For instance, one of my primary challenges has been teaching decimals to students who haven't learned them yet in their math curriculum! The authors explained the process, challenges, and opportunities thoroughly which would be very useful for others wanting to go through a similar process. They also mentioned the work of Linda Cooper, they also listed the URL for the website they created so others can share their ideas and work. Finally, there's plenty of anecdotal information to use if needed when discussing these changes with teachers, students, and administrators.