• What is reclassification, and why is it being done?


• How can this be improved?


• What is being reclassified?


• How many books will be reclassified?


• What about the rest of the Older Lending Collection?


• How do I keep up to date with progress on the project?


• Main Library collections moves

What is reclassification, and why is it being done?

As readers who regularly use the Main Library will be aware, the main Lending Collection is arranged in two separate sequences over two floors of the building:

• Current Lending Collection
  
  
  
  • material acquired by the Library since 1999, all Short Loan books and the Reserve Collection
  
  
  • located on the 4th Floor and Ground Floor of the Library, and arranged by the Library of Congress (LC) classification system
  
  
  • LC is the alpha-numeric system which produces shelfmarks and spine labels on books which look like this:
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    LC Shelfmark examples: HG187.5.E3 Mor. to HG195 Fin.

    
    
  
  
  
  


• Older Lending Collection
  
  
  
  • books acquired by the Library before 1999
  
  
  • arranged on shelves across both the 3rd Floor and 4th Floor according to the Dewey Decimal classification system
  
  
  • Dewey is the numeric system which produces shelfmarks and spine labels on books which look like this:
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    DC Shelfmark examples: .61601 PAS.DUC. to .61601 PAS.PAG.

    
    
  
  
  
  

"books in key subject areas are dispersed"

This means that books in key subject areas are dispersed across two different shelving sequences over two floors of the Main Library building, and readers seeking materials on a particular subject usually have to go to two locations to find everything in their area of interest.

Library staff understand the problems which this creates for readers, and many of you have told us that this book arrangement can be confusing, and difficult to navigate.

How can this be improved?

The Library first began to address the problem in 1998 when the Short Loan books were reclassified from Dewey to Library of Congress. In June 2006, we began the first phase of a major project to reclassify more parts of the Older Lending Collection from Dewey to Library of Congress, with the long-term aim of integrating all books into one classification sequence on the shelves. The major benefit of this will be greatly improved findability and browsability of our collection, as readers will find that books on very similar topics are shelved next to or near each other. It is also widely agreed that the Library of Congress classification system is much clearer and easier to understand.

What is being reclassified?

"The Project is initially focusing on active stock"

The Reclassification Project is initially focusing on active stock from the Dewey sequence - that is books which are currently being borrowed or consulted by readers. Borrowed books are reclassified when readers return them to the Library, and consulted books are also retrieved from the return shelves for reclassifcation, before being integrated into the Library of Congress sequence on the 4th Floor. Over the life of the project, fewer books will be borrowed from the Older Lending Sequence, and in the absence of a high rate of actively circulating stock from this part of the collection, the project team will increasingly turn its focus to items which have previously circulated within the last few years, and to specific subject areas.

How many books will be reclassified?

Our circulation data shows that fewer books from the Older Lending Collection are being borrowed. The number of loans from this collection has decreased significantly over the last 6 years from 170,360 during 2000 to 56,940 in 2006 – this represents a reduction of 67%. The first phase of the project ran from May 2006 to July 2007, and a total of 74,500 books were reclassified. Phase 2 runs from August 2007, and aims to reclassify a further 90,000 volumes.

What about the rest of the Older Lending Collection?

The Reclassification Project began in the Spring of 2006, and funding has been made available to continue the project to July 2008. We estimate that this will complete the reclassification of all material in the Older Lending Collection which has circulated in the last 7 years. Once this work is complete, decisions will be made about the remaining part of the Older Lending Collection, and various options will be considered including off-site storage of material which has not been borrowed since 1999 as this will create much-needed and valuable space for new, more current books.

How do I keep up to date with progress on the project?

We will provide regular updates on the progress via this web page, and the counter below gives monthly updates on the number of books which have been reclassified since the start of the project:

8	1	9	3	3
31 August 2007

If you have any queries or would like further information about the project please contact:

Elize Rowan, Acquisitions & Metadata Services Manager
Elize.Rowan@ed.ac.uk Tel. 650 3390

 

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Main Library collections moves - update autumn 2007

• As the Library of Congress (LC) collection, on the 4th floor of the Main Library, has been expanding more rapidly, due to the Reclassification Project, some major moves of stock have been essential.


• The 4th floor journal collection has been moved to an area of space created by compression of stock on the 3rd floor. The LC collection has been expanded across the 4th floor.


• The moves will help to maintain the 4th floor as a pleasant and open environment for library users and library staff, during the changes on other floors and before the 4th floor is cleared in 2010 (See Main Library Redevelopment Project).

If you have any queries about these moves please e-mail Margaret Dowling, Collections Manager, at m.dowling@ed.ac.uk

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