The Trouble with BISAC Codes

Today I am going to talk about BISAC Codes. What are they? Great question. The easiest answer for you the library worker is that they are like our subject headings but for book publishers and bookstores. Here is the official definition:

The BISAC Subject Codes List* (or BISAC Subject Headings) is the US standard topical categorization used by companies throughout the supply chain. The Subject Heading applied to a book can determine where the work is shelved in a brick and mortar store or the genre(s) under which it can be searched for in an internal database.

Here is the official list of BISAC Codes.

All of us interact with these codes in NetGalley or Edelweiss and in our ordering platforms. Here is an example for the upcoming book Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin via Edelweiss:

Black Flame  

Gretchen Felker-Martin

FRONTLIST | On Sale Date: August 5, 2025

9781250348012, 1250348013

Trade Paperback

$18.99 USD, $25.99 CAD

• Fiction / Horror 
• Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Transgender
• Fiction / Performing Arts / Film, Television & Radio

I bolded the BISAC Codes for you. But now you can see how they are similar to subject headings.

I picked this book for many reasons, but most notably because of the middle BISAC Code. Let me back up a little more though.

BISAC Codes are applied by the publishers for the reasons listed above in the definition but to reiterate, it is for shelving and searching. In this case Black Flame (I have already read it for review in Booklist) is 100% Horror. And it is also a cursed film book and the story of a deeply closeted Lesbian. Now the Transgender tag is mostly added because Felker-Martin herself is transgender. FYI (There is a storyline that includes a transgender character.)

Now, in this case, the code is applied to a pro-transgender book, but what about when it is applied to a title like Irreversible Damage. Well much like I talk about sour library's subject headings having the potential to cause harm (please click here for a much larger post on who we NEED to reckon with that and FIX it), Publishers Weekly ran a story about how BISAC Codes can hurt more than they help booksellers here. From that article:

For instance, when customers search for “feminist, queer, or trans” titles on the Charis website—a part of the American Booksellers Association’s IndieCommerce platform, which is fueled by Ingram—homophobic or transphobic titles often pop up. “People find books Charis would never carry,” Look said, “and we have to manually take them off our website.”

Look recalled an instance when Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters topped the results on searches for books on transgender studies. “Other transphobic books would also pop up,” she said. “They need to add to the category of transgender studies, ‘criticism of transgender,’ so it doesn’t all come up together.”

This statement is very similar to what I say in the Actively Anti-Racist Service to Leisure Readers program that Robin and I offer. And again, it also mimics what I say about this same title in that presentation.

Another problem I have with BISAC Codes is that it labels the books as for someone and not for others. In that article there is a great example from a bookseller:

“BISAC misses connections between books that we booksellers make,” Smith said. “For us, it’s all about connecting the reader with the right book. We shelve books to guide customers between categories, not separate books.” If there is a question about best store placement, she said, she is more likely to ask the publishers’ rep for recommendations.

Another concern, Smith said, is that drilling down into hyper-specific categories can pigeonhole some books and authors, in, for example, such a category as fiction/Indigenous/Indigenous futurism. “Great Indigenous writers are great writers who happen to be Indigenous,” she said. “You risk ghettoizing certain subcategories if you follow BISAC too closely.” While books by authors like Tommy Orange and Louise Erdrich are not categorized as Indigenous literature, books by lesser-known authors—such as the nonfiction and poetry works of Linda LeGarde Grover, for instance—sometimes are.

This is also something I talk at length about in my program with Robin-- how we need to use the book's appeal NOT the author's identity to match books with readers.

In the article a bookseller also acknowledges that BIASC Codes help librarians as we are making purchasing decisions. And here is a mother problem I have. Again, let's use Black Flame as our example but this time for it's for the Horror BISAC Code. 

Horror is listed first-- loudly and proudly. As it should be by the way, both because it is first and foremost a Horror story in the cursed film subgenre, and it is being published by Tor Nightfire, a Horror specific imprint. But until recently, Horror was a "bad word" in publishing and not proudly attached as a BISAC Code to many books. As someone whose job it is to write an annual preview article of the genre in the July issue of Library Journal each year, for many years, it was very difficult for me to find all the Horror titles that were clearly Horror but instead got a BISAC Code for supernatural thriller or Gothic or Ghost.

However, now we see the overuse of Horror for titles that may not be for Horror fans, because it is popular. Same thing for Romance. And we have genres that are on the outs that are getting left off. The Publihsers want to sell the most number of books. This we know

I am not proposing a solution here today, but rather, I have this post to remind you that the issues we have with Subject Headings and what booksellers are seeing with BISAC Codes are not that different. Read the article as it is tangentially to your work. I am glad these larger issues are being discussed outside of our library circles. They are important conversations that may not have an easy (or any) solution, but talking about them publicly helps us all work to do better.

Inclusive Cataloging: Histories, Context, and Reparative Approaches on Circulating Ideas

Long time readers of this blog know that I am a huge fan and past guest of Circulating Ideas. Listen every week because Steve Thomas always has something new for me to learn. He is a curious librarian who goes out of his way to have conversations with library people about what they are doing, writing about, thinking about, etc...

With this knowledge, that I am already a fan of the podcast, I need you to understand when I say this that I am NOT exaggerating-- the current episode (277) is one of his best and most important ever.

Thomas interviews the three editors (Billey Albina, Elizabeth Nelson, and Rebecca Uhl) of the new book from ALA Editions (also my publisher), Inclusive Cataloging: Histories, Context, and Reparative Approaches.

Listening to Albina, Nelson, and Uhl talk about the book on the podcast had me shouting for joy and cheering in multiple places. These three editors talk about inclusive cataloging in ways that Robin and I do in our anti-racist service training programs, with one big difference-- they are the catalogers we are not. 

But they still say the same things we do. For example, you cannot wait for subject headings to be officially changed, rather, you can do the work at your own library no matter how big or small, as long as you do the back end  work to create authority links. I have been advocating for this for years, but I was told, "Oh Becky, you don't understand how important subject headings (no matter how harmful they are) work; You can't just change them." Catalogers talked down to me all the time. But here's the thing. Albina, Nelson, and Uhl agree with me and they are not only acting, they have gathered others to share their actions, libraries big, small, public, academic, everyone.

There is so much in the book (I am getting a copy for myself) yes, but there is also A LOT here in the podcast for you to listen to. 

There are days Robin and I are tired and defeated. People come to us with their stories all of the time. We are thankful that they know they can trust us. As a result, we also know how hard it is out there. We know that sometimes you are battling more than your patrons; you are also fighting against your administration, bosses, even other larger library entities. The weight of these stories, on top of one an other, is heavy. And there are days it feels like there is no signs of improvement. However, it is invigorating to hear about others who are on the same journey as us. Who are fighting for inclusivity, fighting against systemic oppression, and seeking a place where everyone belongs.

Please listen to the podcast, get the link and more information below and consider buying the book-- even if you are not a cataloger. There is much for you to learn here. In fact, I am adding this post, the book, and an excerpt that was also published in American Libraries-- all of it to my portion of the upcoming program Robin and I are doing with ALA eCourses (sign up here). I want to make sure I let as many people know about this as possible. I want the great work of Albina, Nelson, and Uhl to reach as many people as possible.

Thanks again to Steve Thomas for all of the work he does on Circulating Ideas always and with this episode in particular. Use this link to subscribe to his newsletter as well.

277: Inclusive Cataloging: Histories, Context, and Reparative Approaches

Steve chats with Billey Albina, Elizabeth Nelson, and Rebecca Uhl, editors of Inclusive Cataloging: Histories, Context, and Reparative Approaches about their journeys into librarianship, the importance of inclusive cataloging, and how to implement inclusive practices even in small libraries.

Read the transcript!

Filling a gap in the literature, this volume provides librarians and catalogers with practical approaches to reparative cataloging as well as a broader understanding of the topic and its place in the technical services landscape.

As part of the profession’s ongoing EDISJ efforts to redress librarianship’s problematic past, practitioners from across the field are questioning long-held library authorities and standards. They’re undertaking a critical and rigorous re-examination of so-called “best” practices and the decisionmakers behind them, pointing out heretofore unscrutinized injustices within our library systems of organization and making concrete steps towards progressive change. This collection from Core details the efforts of some of the many librarians who are working to improve our systems and collections, in the process inspiring those who have yet to enact change by demonstrating that this work is scalable, possible, and necessary. From this book, readers will

• gain an understanding of the theoretical underpinning for the actions that create our history and be challenged to reconsider their perspectives;
• learn about the important role of the library catalog in real-world EDISJ initiatives through examples ranging from accessibility metadata and gendered information to inclusive comics cataloging and revising LC call numbers for Black people and Indigenous people;
• discover more than a dozen case studies drawn from a variety of contexts including archives, academic and public libraries, and research institutions; and
• see ways to incorporate these ideas into their own work, with a variety of sample policies, “how to” documents, and other helpful tools provided in the text.    

Billey Albina (née Amber Billey) served as the Chair of the Leadership Team for the Core Metadata & Collection Section and Co-Chair of the Core Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She is a member of the PCC Advisory Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and was Chair of the PCC Ad Hoc Task Group on Gender in Name Authority Records. She serves on the Advisory Board for the Digital Transgender Archive, and the editorial board for the Homosaurus – a linked data thesaurus for the LGBTQ+ community. Previously, she was the Associate Director for Bibliographic Services at Bard College.

Elizabeth Nelson is the Cataloging and Collection Development Librarian and Library Department Chair at McHenry County College, where she has worked since 2008. Prior to working in academic libraries, she started her career in public libraries and then spent seven years in special libraries. She is also the current editor of Library Leadership & Management.

Rebecca Uhl has over 30 years’ experience as a catalog and authority control librarian at Arizona State University. Currently serving as the Principal on the Acquisitions and Metadata Services team, she has experience as a manager, supervisor and department head, in addition to copy and original cataloging in all formats.

SHOW NOTES:

Inclusive Cataloging: Histories, Context, and Reparative Approaches
Subscribe to the Circulating Ideas newsletter for more!

[This is Becky again. Normally you have to subscribe to the substack to get the show notes, but these are too important to my readers to not include for this episode. Use the link to subscribe for free for future episodes. 

Ready Reference

Mentioned on the podcast:

• Inclusive Cataloging: Histories, Context, and Reparative Approaches

• McHenry County College library

• Arizona State University library

• Stevenson Library | Bard College

• University of Toronto MSW program

• Field Museum

• “Illegal aliens” (Library of Congress Subject Heading)

• Resource Description and Access (RDA)

• Core | Metadata and Collections Section | Diversity & Inclusion Committee

• LCSH

• LCGFT

• Trans Metadata Collective | Queer Metadata Collective

• ERIC

• Cataloging Lab

• Program for Cooperative Cataloging

• Sanford Berman

• The Joy of Cataloging

• Hennepin Public Library

• Jenna Friedman

• #critcat

• Troublesome Catalogers and Magical Metadata Fairies

• Braiding Sweetgrass

• A is for Axolotl

• Paula Munier

A Summary and Rant About the Recently Completed ALA Annual

I saved this for Friday, a few days after the conference ended, to give myself some time to settle down a bit. Also, leaving my thoughts, disappointment, frustration, and call for more action here on the Friday of a long weekend, when I have a positive post set fore the return to work on Tuesday, is better for all of our mental health.

I am going to cut to the chase with my comments. First a reminder on how to participate even if you did not pay for access is in this post I wrote on June 22.

Hands down the best program I attended was Intellectual Freedom Is Meaningless Without Social Justice by Alison Macrina

I missed this program when it aired live because it was in conflict with something else I had to attend. BUT, I knew it was being recorded and Robin Bradford and I we able to watch the video together to help inform our own Anti-Racism work. This is an excellent point. Even those of us who are paid to help others be anti-racist take CE to improve our skills. Robin and I are in contact regularly, sending each other CE information, reading or watching it all, and then meeting to discuss. 

If we are engaging in this work regularly, you all should be too.

I am going to share my notes on the program itself below, but you should also check out Ahliah Bratzler's live tweet thread of her notes and reactions to the program. Ms. Bratzler does an excellent job capturing much of what Ms. Macrina said in "real time." I have far fewer notes, but my focus was also tighter.

Now my notes:

• Alison Macrina is from the Library Freedom Project [https://libraryfreedom.org]
• They offer a FREE crash course. The next round's application process is open.
• The main takeaway I got from this presentation can be summed up as such: Yes, there is power behind freedom of speech but we also need to critique that power because free speech and intellectual freedom are not and never have been applied evenly across our society. Black people in particular, their freedom of speech has not and is not protected.
• Another big takeaway and one that Robin and I also teach-- Taking a stance of "neutrality" without recognition of the social justice implications of that viewpoint is not only wrong, it is harmful. Neutrality amplifies the voice and speech of those who are perpetuating social injustice.
• She used many examples of those who decry that their speech is being infringed upon, notable Tucker Carlson, Nazi groups, and TERFS [trans-exclusionary radical feminist: a feminist who excludes the rights of transgender women from their advocacy of women's rights].
• a major point here: those who books perpetuate injustice, the establishment protects their speech way more already.
• She used the term systemic injustice a few times. I am going to incorporate that into my own work.
• A lot of time was spent giving examples of the reality of how the French speech of marginalized voices is not and never been equally enforced. 
• It is not free speech to protect these hateful groups. In fact, it is socially irresponsible to prioritize the speech of the most vile people in society. 
• She shared Karl Popper's Paradox of Tolerance. Here is a link for more info, but basically, the more indiscriminately tolerant we are, the more we let hate gain power.
• She spent a lot of time talking about meeting room policies and how to work with the community to make hateful groups who book your meeting rooms feel unwelcome. But she was also honest about hate groups using threats of violence to make a point.
• She talked about the fetishization of the first amendment and how we don't understand it in reality. For example, libraries do not have to be neutral. A library has the right to express its own belief and it can be strong in that belief. What they cannot do is discriminate against the belief of others. 
• This is why libraries should STOP worrying a bout neutrality [but see below for more on this]
• She suggested this book to understand this more nuanced argument: The Case Against Free Speech: The First Amendment, Fascism, and the Future of Dissent by P.E. Moskowitz [I placed a hold].
• We need to move from these outdated notions of FREE SPEECH within our library framework or we are going to help make the problem worse.

Robin and I talk about the false notion of neutrality all the time. We site it as the biggest impediment to libraries doing real action based work to stop systemic oppression. Hearing this sentiment echoed by someone who is approaching it, using the law to back us, up was invigorating. However, much of our positive energy from this talk evaporated quickly when a library worker in Colorado reach out to me with this information from The Board Packet for the Douglas County Libraries:

Click through here and start at page 17 to see and read it all [PDF so screen readers can read it too]. 

This is VERY troubling. These are major libraries in a "blue" state trying to hide behind neutrality to uphold outdated notions and reinforce systemic oppressions. And it is framed to the Board, who may not be aware of the nuance here, that this is a way to "accept" everyone.

So there goes my positive attitude that real change is on the horizon. But better for Robin and I to know about these things so that we can directly attack, oh I mean, address them. We are regrouping to come up with our own response in our programs.

And then, somehow, things went from bad to worse-- although I am not surprised. Readers of this blog know that I have been a long time supporter April Hathcock and the work she has done, often alone and at peril to her physical and mental health, to fight again the systemic racism inherent in ALA and our profession. To read more about that, click here, but short version, April is the person who inspired me to act and use my voice and platform to force people to  recognize that they need to do more than just be "not racist."

Well, April finished her term as an ALA councilor and wrote this "Goodbye" post about how despite her work, nothing changed, and in fact, it seems ALA as an institution is simply digging in deeper toward not acting.

One of the biggest NON ACTION items at ALA was regarding the group of academic catalogers who have worked for 5 years to try to convince ALA to official encourage the Library of Congress to stop using racist subject heading. At Council, despite 5 years of methodically trying to play by the rules, ALA ended up not moving this proposal forward.

Look, it is complicated issue and I have had disagreements with those involved in trying to make these changes. I have questioned them for being too slow. They have countered that I am too naive and not in tech services. Well, I gave them space....for 5 YEARS!....and it did nothing. 

I am done with patience and with academic libraries. Instead I am mow pivoting to encouraging those of you who are involved in tech services at public libraries, especially large ones, to start publicly defying LC and to stop using their subject headings. 

Boycott LCSH and force their hand at change. At this point using "illegal aliens," for example, in our catalogs is WRONG. We know it and yet we argue that we "can't change because LCSH are the standard." 

Well, as Robin said as we watched the program above [where the use of boycott's by Black Americans as a way to stop Jim Crow laws worked because their speech was silenced or punished--but action still worked]-- ALA knew about Black people being kept out of public libraries and refused to "get involved." THIS IS THE SAME. Do not kid yourself. It is.

Do you want to stand by and let this continue to happen? Yes research and scholarship will face difficult and confusion for a while, but NO ONE WILL DIE. We need to get over ourselves. It is a small price to pay-- inconvenience-- to make a change, a step away from systemic oppression. No one said it would be easy or without problems, but real change, especially change that directly addresses systemic oppression, is HARD. Very hard.

Below, posted with permission, are the personal comments on Twitter by a library worker who is in charge of Technical Service for the second largest library in IL [in circulation numbers]. She not only made this public statement, she organized a meeting with the top levels of her library's leadership to discuss this issue. You can see she is responding to April's  comment on this issue too. This is ACTION! 

Click here to access the Tweets in the screen shot

ALA and LCSH-- I am done with your excuses. I don't care. And guess what? I have heard from more than this one library leader. Here is a list of libraries who are already unwilling to wait. [Passed on to me by Karen.]

There will be a revolt and when major institutions STOP using LCSH because they are racist and it is not acceptable. Then all of these people claiming to be fighting for the changes will be left int he dust. ACTION speaks louder than words. And it will take less than 5 years to get someone to notice us.

I have heard way too many excuses as to why it is too hard. Change is never easy. Dismantling systemic oppression is hard, but it is what is right and is just about the only thing keeping me engaged with my profession these days.

I am fighting here on the blog, in my programs with Robin Bradford, and as a Board member for a major Library System. Don't think I haven't put myself on the line-- this is something my detractors say. They claim it is easy for me because I work for myself. Trust me, I do this work in public meetings where I am part of organizations that don't want to hear it either. I have confronted the state librarian in public, I have met with legislators on both sides of the aisle, I have defied my own excellent state library association-- all to force people's hands to make change. Afterwards, people are uncomfortable and want me to know I may have gone too far. You know what? Until there is real change, I have not gone far enough. 

Don't tell me it is too hard and that I need to be more patient. Again, look at April's statement. There are few in our profession whose opinions I hold more dear. That woman has sacrificed her health and safety to try to convince people to change. She is not exaggerating, if anything she is holding back. I know this because I have edited this post over a series of days and have held back. 

This is my fight now. But this is what we are up against:

Click here to access the screen shot text

Don't get complacent. Use the anger of the meetings we just witnesses as energy to fight for change. Join those of us who are putting it all on the line, who are refusing to put up with excuses, who won't let the "politics" of it scare us away, who won't wait, who will act. Why? Because it is wrong to do nothing.

Look, I wouldn't be alive if my great grandfather "waited"around for his fellow Austrians to work thing out politically. He was wealthy and well established. He left it all behind and got out and then fought to get out as many family members as he could. There is a point when only action works.

If you thought I was unwilling to suffer fools before, you haven't seen anything yet.

Use this 4th of July holiday time to contemplate how you are going to make our country better and force up to live up to our ideals. There is nothing more patriotic than that. 

Call to Action Reminder-- Don't Shelve Your Series in Alpha Order

Today I am reposting my demand that we stop shelving series in Alpha Order. This post is from 2018 and it has a very useful comment at the end of it from a library who was working on this issue.

I use one of the most extreme series authors, Nora Roberts as an example in this post, but most are not this hard.

But I am also updating this Call to Action by adding some more general information about how we present books to our community.

The main reason you NEED to shelve books in series order is simple:

THEY ARE NOT YOUR BOOKS! THEY BELONG TO YOUR COMMUNITY FOR WHOM YOU PURCHASED THEM WITH THEIR MONEY!

I am so done with library workers who act like they are the gate keepers of their collections. These people act as guards, trying to find reasons to restrict access. This is dumb. If you think like this, you are wrong. You cannot win this argument. And, you should probably find another line of work.

As I say this, trust me, I realize that many library directors and administrators are the ones who think most like this. I fight them constantly about their outdated and harmful opinions about how to serve their public. I write posts like this to help you have arguments to bring to them. As a widely accepted expert in all things RA Service, at least my word will carry some critical weight as you attempt to change their misplaced minds.

Look, the fact of the matter is your books are meant to be off the shelf, not held hostage on the shelf. You are not 100% successful in your work at the public library until every single item is checked out at the same time and the shelves are bare. So.....job scrutiny, yes, but also this is the goal to strive for. If setting the books free, to be circulated and enjoyed is our ultimate goal, then our policies and attitudes as a profession needs to shift.

Placing books on the shelf where patrons are most likely going to look for them, and then making sure your catalog reflects that [so they can find them when browsing the shelves AND while using the OPAC] is your ultimate goal.

Children's librarians do this all the time with popular series. So LEGO books, for example, are all together on the shelf and use a call number of LEG, NOT the various author's last names. Kids who want LEGO books or Star Wars or whatever is popular at the moment, will look. under the series NOT the author. My local library has gone so far as to pull out "counting" and "alphabet books" and designated them as a "series," even though they are not in a unified series. But, parents and kids look for them in this way.

And guess what, that is fine. Stop getting hives about the fact that it is NOT proper cataloging. Libraries are allowed to organize their materials in the way that makes the most sense to the way their patrons access the collection. Cataloging rules are a guide NOT a law. As I say below, there are no library police to put you in library jail if you disobey.

[Also, and this is a side argument but needs to at least be mentioned here, why are we so attached to LC subject headings. They are extremely racist. When patrons encounter them in the catalog it is a microaggression at best and a hostile attack at worst. So why are we so quick to defend the RULES then?]

The point I am making below is that we need to show our patrons [not just tell them] that we care about their access and experience. Yes, recataloging all of your series is a lot of work, but it can be done and is ultimately in service to your patrons....those patrons whose books these are in the first place.

Below is the original post. I will back tomorrow with a catch up reviews on all of my personal reading from the last few months and then away until Monday.

Call to Action: Don’t Shelve You Series in Alpha Order

Today I have a very easy Call to Action, one that a few libraries are starting to do, one that puts the patrons and their needs first, one that there is no good reason for you not to do--

STOP SHELVING SERIES IN ALPHA ORDER MY TITLE AND ONLY SHELVE THEM IN SERIES NUMERICAL ORDER! 

Notice I say there is “no good reason” for you not to do this. I know many of you are literally shaking with anxiety after reading that statement. Putting things in alphabetical order is what most librarians do; it’s what they live for; it is what grounds them, and I am pulling the rug out from under all of them. However, just because that is how we are most comfortable organizing of our materials does not mean it is the best way. Sorry people, tough love here.

Also, and I say this often in my talks to ease some of the anxiety the above statement causes, I promise, you will not go to library jail for not putting every single item in alpha order. [cue nervous laughter and looking over shoulders]

Alphabetical order works great for organizing fiction authors and then for arranging their books on the shelf in many cases. But, for series, it never makes sense because people want to read the series in the order the author wants them to, not because the alphabet sets the order. And when you have an author like Nora Roberts, who has a bazillion different series it makes even less sense.

Let’s take Roberts as an example right now. We should use the KDL What’s Next Database as our model on how to organize series on the shelf. Here is a screen shot of their entry for just first few series Roberts has.

Each series is “shelved” alphabetically in this database. Then as you explore each series [as shown above in the Concannon Sisters Trilogy] those are in numerical order. In other words, in the order that the patron wants to read them.

With an author like Roberts, who has almost 3 dozen series under her name, this shelving by series alphabetically and then shelving the series in its written order is a game changer. The Roberts shelf is a mess with some books from the same series a shelf or two apart. Why do we do this to our patrons? Why do we make finding the books so harder them? Do we love alpha order more than our readers? Of course not.

Now Nora Roberts is an extreme example. Let’s take her series under the name JD Robb for example instead, currently at 47 books and counting. In this case we have a single author whose series is shelved completely out of order, and it really matters what order you read it in! Eve Dallas is in a different place in book 5 than she is in book 35. Why can’t we put them in numerical order? Why do our patrons have to search on their own to figure the order out? Why isn’t it clear on the shelf. I don’t know why? Better yet, why have we never asked ourselves how confusing and unhelpful this series of 47 popular books in no useful order is?

No wonder people don’t think we want to help them. We don’t make it easy for them. It's like we are taunting them. Seriously, that is how it feels to readers. I am not exaggerating. I have asked patrons, and trying to navigate a new to them series that already has a lot of books in it is a big source of library anxiety.

Okay, now the biggest argument against shelving in numerical order- how else will we make sure that they are marked appropriately in the catalog and on the book themselves in order for them to be easily reshelved and located by patrons and library workers alike. How will we make sure it is consistent and clear.

Yes it is true that our cataloging methods are all based on alpha order, but guess what? The cataloging systems are not the law. Again, you won’t go to jail. We have the right to create local cataloging changes to serve our patrons better.

Luckily here, there are many libraries who are beginning to do this, so I know of some models to share.

The easiest way I have seen it that a cutter is created for the series and then a number appears after it. So a JD Robb book would be under ROB, first and then IND 1 would be added to the title Naked in Deathsince it is the first book in the In Death Series. It would look like this on that book:

ROB

IND 1

If an author has multiple series, you cutter each series and assign numbers. Adding this one extra call number allows the book to be shelved properly every time and takes up very little extra space on the spine of the book.

Again, use KDL’s What’s Next database as your model. Then you have a standard source to base your cataloging off of. You can insure that if your cataloging person changes, the standard will be kept. It is your professional source material to make your cataloging choices for series.

I am making this call to action-- shelving series in numerical order-- one of my personal goals. Everywhere I go I will be telling libraries to do this. And you know what, there is no argument any one can make against me. It is easier for the library workers, the shelvers, and most importantly the patrons. It puts the reader and their needs first. It shows them with our actions that we want them to be able to use the library easily. It makes us look more friendly and helpful without even talking to anyone.

And the only argument those of you who resist have is that it is different than how we have always done things.

Doing things the way we have always done them is a terrible and lazy argument. Progress has never been made in any arena on the back of that argument.

Often with my Call to Action posts I leave it up to you to try it or not. Today, I am demanding you start seriously considering making this change.

If you need help convincing your supervisors, let me know.

For past Call to Action posts, click here.