Library Makes a Unique, User-Friendly Change to Bookshelves

Attempting to find that perfect book about Italian cooking with only a slip of paper reading, “814.54 KOR” might be the most intimidating part of going to a library.

However, things are about to change at the when it comes to browsing and locating the perfect book. Starting Dec. 10, library users will be able to peruse for titles based on 30 interests such as Food, Garden and Health.

The library will be closed from Dec. 7-9 so employees can tackle the daunting task of reorganizing every nonfiction title.

“We know from watching our customers that the tall forest of nonfiction shelving, designated only by Dewey Decimal numbers, is intimidating,” said Kathy Klager, library director. “We don’t often see people going into those aisles to browse. We wanted to change that; there are terrific books in there, and we just have to make them easier to come across.”

The library staff started a pilot program in April called “Project BEE: Browsing Easier for Everyone.” It only reorganized a few sections like Home and Food into new shelving to see if it was something the employees should implement library-wide.

A Colorado elementary school did a similar thing with its library, and is believed to be the only one in the United States to make the change.

Becky Murray, the head of adult services and the Project BEE manager, has been overseeing the success of the pilot program. She says the project groups far more books together than readers may have realized the library carried.

“In the old arrangement, when (residents) found a gardening or landscaping book, they assumed they were seeing all the library had; they never knew that there were many more books in another aisle,” Murray said. “We know the pilot Project BEE has been successful because we see lots of people in those new sections, and the books in those areas have been checked out far more frequently than when they were in straight Dewey order.”

However, the big change isn’t coming cheap. Klager and Murray teamed up with the Pauline Haass Public Library Foundation to fund the continuation of Project BEE. The foundation provided a $10,000 grant that was used for things like additional shelving and new signage.

And this isn’t the first time the foundation stepped up to fund projects at the library that didn’t fit the budget. Last year it funded the new children’s area where kids use touch-screen computers as learning tools.

“This year we’re funding a change in the way books are organized for adults in the library, and it’s really the same thing: making the library more intuitive and, yes, fun,” said Marie DeVillers, president of the Foundation.

The three-day overhaul is mainly about nonfiction titles; however, fiction is not being overlooked. When the library reopens, the fiction novels will also be rearranged and grouped by genre. For the past several months, library staff has been labeling each book in categories like mystery, science fiction and romance.

Check out the new bookstore-style library when it opens at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10.