Libraries Rethinking the Dewey Decimal System

For Kathy Klager and Becky Murray, something didn’t quite add up at the .

After three decades of steadily increasing circulation, the library saw a 3 percent drop in 2011. Not a huge drop, mind you, but it marked the first time that circulation had fallen at the library. And they weren't sure why.

Klager, the library director, and Murray, head of adult services, were in a position to make a change, and soon enough, it hit them. After watching a webinar about how to make libraries more user-friendly, the two got the ambitious bug to make a year-long transformation.

It was time to rethink the Dewey Decimal System.

That's right. The same Dewey Decimal System that most of us learned to use in elementary school, but still aren't quite sure how it works.

“We don’t see people browsing the aisle labeled 332.1572 because that frankly doesn’t get us excited to read,” Klager laughed. “But when you go to a bookstore and walk in, there are big signs for business, crafts or home.”

That very distinct difference was enough to make the two dig deeper, and it turns out, they didn’t need to dig very deep. The transformation of suburban libraries into a bookstore-style experience is something libraries around the nation have started doing.

Colorado library among the first

The first major library system to drop the Dewey Decimal System completely was Colorado's Rangeview Library District. While other smaller libraries dropped the system before them, Rangeview was the first system of its size to show it could be done.

And not every library drops Dewey altogether, however.

Klager and Murray toured the Rakow Branch of the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin, IL, after hearing its "mashup" style of organizing books. The Rakow Branch kept the Dewey system to find specific books, but still organized them into broad, bookstore-style categories for browsing.

Today, 95 percent of United States libraries use the Dewey Decimal System, a number-based method of organizing books that was invented in 1876. However, it’s this seemingly archaic system that drove the pair to search for something new.

“I don’t think libraries should be difficult to use,” Klager said. “Why should you have to teach someone how to use a library? Nobody has to teach me how to use Ace Hardware.

"People say, ‘Isn’t this something you should have learned in high school?’ and I think, if we’re about to be tested on material we learned in high school, we’re going to be in trouble," Klager added.

Murray and Klager made the decision to transform the enormous, 37,000-book fiction and nonfiction sections of their library into the mashup style they saw at the Rakow Branch in Illinois. This way, they could still keep the Dewey system for searching, but books would be categorized into 30 different, easy-to-find genres.

”I don't think libraries should be difficult to use. Why should you have to teach someone how to use a library?"

Appointed as project manager, Murray created a timeline in which 2011 would be used strictly be research and planning, and 2012 would be when the change would take place. However, the plans were put on the fast track after Milwaukee’s Borders Bookstore location went out of business and held a liquidation sale of everything, including shelving.

That provided the duo with an opportunity they couldn't pass up: Getting much-needed fixtures at a fraction of the normal cost.

“I have to admit, I read about Borders closing in the paper, and remember I’m a book person,” Klager said. “I had this moment of sadness, and then the evil administrator in me popped out and said, ‘We need to call them!’

 “So Becky called, expressed her condolences and said, ‘By the way…’”

New system boosts circulation

With an air-tight budget and library shelving being “unbelievably expensive,” the Borders closing was enough to kickstart the entire operation. Murray organized a pilot area with sections titled “Home,” “Garden” and “Food.” During a time when circulation in the rest of the library was declining, those areas saw a big jump in the number of books being checked out.

“Over the six months we collected data for the pilot program, those books were circulating at least 11 percent higher,” Murray said. “We wanted to make sure there wasn’t a higher interest simply because it was something new, and it definitely wasn’t.”

With a more than $10,000 grant from the library’s foundation, Murray, her staff and a team of volunteers relabeled 37,000 books in nine months, purchased new signage, bought shelving and rented more than 100 wooden carts to move every book to its new position at once.

Only in suburbia

Transforming a library into an easy-to-browse, bookstore themed wonderland may seem like the perfect fit, but it’s not for everyone.

Libraries in suburban communities have been the only risk-takers thus far, leaving larger urban libraries to their more traditional Dewey Decimal roots.

“I would say more suburban smaller libraries have moved towards this because they have a better handle on it,” said Marcia Warner, president of the American Public Library Association.

Although organizing shelves like the Pauline Haass Public Library may not work for everyone, Warner says a trend is definitely developing. The first library system to get rid of the Dewey system completely was in 2009, and since then, the idea to follow suit, or simply reorganize and do a mashup style, has grown, she said.

“I do love the idea and I’ve seen it done very well,” said Warner. “The idea of eliminating Dewey and going toward 30 sections might not work for everyone, but I’ve seen larger libraries do something similar with smaller groups of books and it’s worked really well. I’m excited to see where it’s going.”

Since completing the renovation in December, Murray says the transformation has come with almost all positive, yet some negative reviews.

“For some people, they don’t like it," Murray said. "It’s a pretty big change for people who are used to the more traditional style. Also, it’s a big job. It takes a lot of hard work and ingenuity for staff.”

But overall, the hard work seems to have paid off. 

Glen Burk, a frequent library user from Sussex, began looking for a specific book in the mystery section, but then found himself browsing further down the aisle. 

"The new system they've got here took some getting used to at first," he said. "I come here a lot, so I needed to find my section again. But I'm really starting to like it. All of the mystery and James Patterson books I love are all right here. It's nice."

This story is part of an ongoing series that looks at how life is changing in America. You can find more articles from the series at “Dispatches: The Changing American Dream” from across the country at The Huffington Post.