Good Bye Dewey, I have A Name for The New System

I spent three hours or so today working in the library. I know a Teacher/Librarian working in a library doesn't sound that exciting, but It was actually a big thing, for me. I started the process of shelving the books in the new categorization system that I am using instead of Dewey.


For those new to the blog, I have decided to do away with the Dewey Decimal System in my K-5 Elementary School Library. You can read the other posts for my reasons why. After many hours of changing call numbers, I finally got to move the books to their new shelves today.Although it started out slowly, I am very excited about the way the system is going to work. As you walk into the Library, the room flows from category to category now. From the front of the Library back it actually follows a logical order as the subjects move from one to another.

As I was working today, I started thinking about the new system. The wonderful Librarians at The Ethical Culture Fieldston School, who ditched the Dewey Decimal system at their school (and have been very helpful in answering my questions as I got started) named their system Metis. On their website they say, "We have named the system in honor of the crafty Titan who is the mother of Athena and the eternal source of good advice for Zeus." That is a pretty neat idea. So, I thought I should come up with a name for my system also, since it doesn't quite follow the Metis model or the BISAC Standards.


Now I am not a very vain person, So I couldn't go Dewey-like and name it after myself, and I am not sure my library will ever be a place of the Gods, so I couldn't go with a Mythological name, besides my favorite Greek God since my college days when I first learned of him is Dionysus (the God of Wine and Fertility) and I don't think that is an appropriate name for an elementary library system name.


So, I thought about other options. I am a big Disney fan and am inspired by innovators, like the Disney Imagineers. Lately, I have been reading and listen to some very talented people who have done research on innovation and creativity and I wanted the system to reflect that idea, that it is new and different in the sense that it is innovative for a school Library to Ditch Dewey. The more I thought and looked into words that portrayed this idea, The further I got form why I was doing this. Why I was scrapping Dewey. I am doing it to make it easier on my students and staff and also on myself. It isn't for innovation for innovations sake, it's for ease of use and hopefully a more enjoyable Library experience. So, I have decided on a name, I think best describes the new system; as it means what it is and what using it should be. I have named my new Library System the Facili System (pronounced Fah-Chili).


Please continue to follow along as write about how my work in the Facili System proceeds.








For More information on Metis, check out their website here.
For those of you who have not googled Facili yet, It is the Latin word for Easy.

Ditching Dewey

 My fifth graders use the card catalog every week, they always find the book they want on the catalog and then ask me where they can actually find the book. They know how the Dewey Decimal System works, they know it is in numerical order, but every week, they have to ask where to find things. I have taught them how to use Dewey, labeled the high interest shelves and used increased signage to help, but to no avail.

So, I am going to shake things up; change the look and feel of my library, by organizing the shelves using a categorizing system based on the BISAC Subject Headings. Yes, I'm going to DITCH DEWEY. I got the idea reading about METIS, which I found at Brief Book Bytes.

It's not that  I don't like structure, as a teacher/librarian, I like being able to shelve things in an easy manner, it is just that I think that Dewey is outdated and the children don't really need it or use it. I honestly don't think most of the adults in my school use it either. They come in and ask where things can be found, the same as the children.

I have spent a lot of time reading both sides of the argument for 'Ditching Dewey' and everyone keeps using the phrase, "Librarians search and students browse", but I don't think that is completely true. I think students don't search, because they don't understand the system; even when taught, the whole decimal thing throws them off. I usually start teaching Dewey by talking and teaching about decimals. Students can understand the concept in 3rd and 4th grade, they can organize a pile of books without a problem, but using the system to find books confuses them once they go to the shelves. I believe, if the shelves were organized so that they could relate to them, it would make searching easier.

Thus, No more Dewey.

In my research about getting rid of Dewey, I also read, "Anythink’s WordThink: A Revolutionary Organizational System" and understand why they have more books circulating and more patrons using the library; it is easier for the patrons to use a BISAC approach and less intimidating, whether searching or browsing.

Anythink calls their system WordThink, the group in New York calls theirs METIS after "the Greek goddess of wisdom and deep thought". I have no idea what I am going to call my system (which is going to be a kind of mix of both of these systems), I'm more worried about making it work and figuring out how to do it.

So, over the next couple weeks and months, I will be sharing with you my journey from Dewey to my new system. I haven't even really started yet, and already I am thinking about the process in my sleep. I don't know if that is a good sign or a bad one, but only time will tell.

As the Garth Brooks song says:

sometimes you just can't be afraid 

To wear a different hat 

If Columbus had complied 

This old world might still be flat 

Nothin' ventured, nothin' gained 

sometimes you've got to go against the grain.

I guess we'll see if I sink or swim...