Dewey Free

Purloined yet again from APL's Stephanie Simon:

Most of our library patrons are browsers. They wander the stacks, pulling book after book off the shelves, checking out titles, scrutinizing story descriptions, looking at author bios, and skimming pages. All in a search for just the right book to take home for a few hours of entertainment.

Here at APL, we're about to make the library browser's search for that perfect book so much easier. All you need to remember are two little words: Dewey free.
So, What is Dewey Free Anyway?

Dewey free is the common name for a library collection classification system that uses words instead of numbers to categorize and organize nonfiction books. Instead of using the traditional Dewey decimal system of numbers, books are organized, labeled, and shelved by subject areas -- just like in your neighborhood bookstore.

Albany's branch collections are just the right size for Dewey free to work and make a customer's library experience more intuitive and user friendly. Dewey free allows us to group similar subjects together and make more natural selections for displaying complementary books. Ample signage, a well-trained staff, and computer terminals will point customers in the right direction to find just what they need.

We've been working hard on the Dewey-free system. Staff members have been recategorizing and relabeling the existing branch collections, which will be moved into the renovated sites soon. We also have a big shipment of new books from Baker & Taylor arriving at Pine Hills next week. Things are also moving along at the other four branches under construction and renovation. The North Albany Branch Library will be converted to Dewey free sometime next year.

APL staff is committed to making Dewey free work at our branch libraries and helping our customers get the most out of their library experiences. Other libraries that have gone Dewey free have seen great success in terms of increased circulation and customer satisfaction.

We expect you're going to love the new Dewey-free branch libraries!
Our first renovated library -- the Pine Hills Branch Library at 517 Western Avenue -- is having a grand opening party on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 1 to 5 p.m. Come check it out and see how great a Dewey-free library can be!

From one bookworm to another,

Stephanie Simon
Albany Public Library