[DCRB-L] Classification numbers

[Richard Noble]

This may be true of collection like the Folger's, and serve its readers and 
staff efficiently enough; but I'd be less sanguine about an arbitrary shelf 
arrangement in the John Hay Library, with its wide ranges and innumerable 
intensities of subjects.

Is paging an issue? I should think that physical collocation of similar 
topics or genres might well facilitate the gathering of materials in large 
quantities for particular researchers, as we frequently find ourselves 
doing. We also profile our general collections by LC class for collection 
development, and are very much interested in building complementary 
circulating and special collections. Much depends on local conditions and 
the nature of the institution. I doubt whether there's a single good answer 
to this question.

At 5/1/03    03:14 PM, Deborah Leslie wrote:
>There is an advantage to subject classification for closed stacks, which 
>is the browsing possible by shelfmark in online library systems. It's a 
>matter of effort vs. benefit. In a closed stack, the benefits don't come 
>close to justifying the efforts.


RICHARD NOBLE : RARE BOOKS CATALOGER : JOHN HAY LIBRARY : BROWN UNIVERSITY
PROVIDENCE, RI 02912 : 401-863-1187/FAX 863-2093 : RICHARD_NOBLE at BROWN.EDU