Hooked on Shelving Worked For Me!

Library of Congress (LC) classification can be a little confusing. With the mix of letters and numbers that really only mean something to librarians, getting a book off the shelf for the first (or sixteenth) time may be a challenge. I can identify, I still struggle because I grew up on Dewey.

Who said learning how to find a book on the shelf meant that you actually had to practice with real books and real stacks? Grad students worked with librarians at Carnegie Mellon University to develop online games to practice, literally, by shelving books. They’ve also developed a game to familiarize yourself with the various resources available at the library, like the print and electronic collections. I did pretty well with the shelving game, but not with the other one. I’ll have to keep trying.

Library Arcade from Carnegie Mellon University – thanks to Anne for the link!

As an aside – which is better? LC or Dewey? I did a quick Google search. The best reason why LC is better – the call numbers fit better on the books (from Aquinas College Library after their reclassification project).