Finally, we can stop bugging you about it -- because, in the early hours of this very morning, the Dewey Breakfast-slash-Update happened. Needless to say, a grand time was had by all who attended -- including not ten, not a hundred, but a total of zero people who would admit to reading the Dewey blog. Somewhat deflated by the results of our impromptu survey, but nonetheless impressed by the size of this morning's audience, we have resolved to make the blog a more irresistible destination for web surfers by offering a free muffin to every reader of each daily entry.* The discussion at breakfast, you'll recall, focused on the recent update that the DDC editors undertook of the development at 741.5 for comic books, graphic novels, etc. Francisca Goldsmith (Berkeley Public Library) and Terry Moore (Strangers in paradise) inspired us all with their insightful commentary on various aspects of graphic-novels librarianship in general, and on the DDC's treatment of graphic novels and other sequential-art media in particular. We talked about the pros and cons of distinguishing between fiction and non-fiction graphic novels; of classing fiction graphic novels in the arts (700) rather than in literature (800); of subdividing comic books, etc., first by format and then by country; of using subject headings to distinguish further among different formats and genres ... The consensus among panelists and attendees seemed to be that the DDC's update is on the right track; but of course we're still very much open to feedback from our users. We'd love to hear how your library is using classification and subject cataloging to improve access to its graphic-novels collection, so be sure to let us know!
* Reader to pick up muffin from Decimal Classification Division offices, Library of Congress. Offer not available to residents of the District of Columbia, Virginia, or Maryland.
i'm reading the blog! please keep going.....I wonder about classing the comics etc in Dewey at all. Why not approach them as any illustrated story (picture book) in fiction?
Posted by: Ernie | 24 March 2006 at 11:05 AM
OK, I'll claim my muffin. Just hang on to it until my next visit to Washington.
Posted by: Giles Martin | 24 March 2006 at 11:45 AM
I beg to differ with you...One person said they read the blog! Me! Seriously, the group was wonderful at the breakfast. I know I learned quite a bit.
Posted by: Libbie | 24 March 2006 at 01:02 PM
I love this blog and read regularly. It's also on my blogroll. I should probably subscribe to the feed.
Posted by: No Chaser | 26 March 2006 at 08:12 PM
I was at the breakfast and didn't know about the blog until now-- but now you've got one more reader!
Posted by: Emily | 27 March 2006 at 10:36 AM
I'm just upset that you get muffins.
Posted by: dean ashton | 27 March 2006 at 03:05 PM
I'm reading the blog too! A word on graphic novels--we put graphic novels for kids in the juvenile non-fiction section under 741.5, with the cutter being the first word of the title, or, if it's a series featuring a main character, the first word of the character. We did that because patrons were used to graphic novels being there. When we added more graphic novels (including Strangers in Paradise), meant for teens or adults, we put them in their respective fiction collections, with the call number being "Graphic" then the first word of title and graphic. So Strangers in Paradise would look like this:
TF
Graphic
Strangers
I found that this improves the browsability (is this a word?) of the collection. I'd be interested to hear how other people address this issue. So interested, in fact, I'd be willing to offer breakfast tacos to those who respond.
Posted by: Malia | 29 March 2006 at 08:52 AM