[LM_NET] Hit: Mc's & Mac"s

[Dawn Sardes <yayagoddess@SBCGLOBAL.NET>]

Salutations,
   
  I hope everyone had a lovely Fathers' Day weekend.  Mine was lovely.  We got to 
meet, for the very first time, our son's future stepchildren.  As we had given up 
on ever having grandchildren, we are, to say the least, thrilled to welcome these 
young ones to our family. They are delightful children & my son called to say that 
they enjoyed meeting us and can't wait to come back.
   
  Anyway, on to the topic at hand.
   
  I want to thank everyone who wrote regarding my rant about the interfiling of the 
fiction whose authors' last names begin with Mc or Mac.
   
  It seems that the AACR rules first mandated this, but with the advent of 
computers, which alphabetize letter by letter, the rules changes about 20 years 
ago, and adding that imaginery A in Mac is no longer done.  
   
  The main reason for not interfiling was that when printing out a shelf-list, 
MacConnell, MacDaniel, Madding, Mason, Matas, Mazur come first and then the Mc's.  
Interfiling them makes inventory more difficult.
   
  Of the over fifty responses I have received so far, only three are still 
interfiling the Mc's and Mac's.
   
  My problem is with the inconsistency.  In nonfiction, we put the Dewey number on 
the spine and then add the first three letters of the author's last name (EX: 
332.14 Mac and 332.14 Mcd).  These do NOT get interfiled.
   
  Most people come in, find the book and the author in the online catalog, see the 
author name listed as Mazur, and go to the shelf to find it, then come to the desk 
asking where it is as "the M's are a mess: as all the McDaniels, McDonalds, 
McKnights are in the way and they think the Ma___ names are over.  "Nothing is 
alphabetized corectly," they say.
   
  Then I go there, and, to be honest, I have problems visualizing that imaginery 
"a" in the Mc's too.  I have been an obsessive-compulsive alphabetizer since I was 
a little kid.  I used to make my mother nuts rearranging her spices and canned 
goods in the pantry alphabetically when she wanted broth-based soups and 
cream-based soups separate.  to me, they all fell into the soup category.
   
  In fact, it also makes me crazy that the cutlery organizers you buy have the long 
slot for knives at the far right.  I would prefer to have it in order of Butter 
knives, Forks, Knives, Tablespoons, Teaspoons.  In my old house, my dad had made 
such a division scheme for me.  
   
  Maybe the location of materials is so difficult for me because I audibly 
differentiate between the Mc's and Mac's.
   
  For McDonald & MacDonald I (and my entire family) say "Mik-Donald" and MacDonald.
   
  My grandmother's maiden name was McConnell, and she was quite insistent that it 
be pronounced MIK-Connell.
   
  When I want a hamburger, I go to MIK-Donalds for a Big MAC, not a Big MIK.
   
  Maybe my family is just odd? Or, maybe it's just me.
   
  Again, thanks for all the responses.  I really enjoyed reading them.
   
   
   
   


Dawn Sardes
Teen Services Librarian
Euclid Public Library
Euclid, OH
yayagoddess@sbcglobal.net.omit.this
Check out my Harry Potter Fan Fiction at
http://www.fanfiction.net
Pen Name: YaYa Goddess

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