Shelving and the Dewey Decimal System

1. Explain the purpose of the Dewey Decimal System.

2. Explain why a book that isn’t shelved in the correct location is essential a lost book.

3. What two things can be identified from a book’s spine label?

4. When shelving fiction materials, what do you do if two authors have the exact same last name?

5. When shelving fiction materials what do you do when we have multiple titles by the same author?

6. How do you shelve nonfiction books when several of them have the exact same Dewey Decimal number?

7. What do you take into account first when shelving nonfiction books – the author’s last name or the Dewey Decimal number?

8. How will you be able to identify a reference book?

9. What is unique about the shelving of individual biographies?

10. Where do the 92’s and 920’s go on the shelves? 11. How are the back issues of periodicals organized?

12. In what direction are books shelved?

13. What is the purpose of reading shelves?

14. List the seven criteria against which your shelves will be evaluated.