Interesting discussion of the DDC issue. Very interesting.
But to get to my quick point: Borders has an in-store terminal that lets
patrons look up books and that informs them of the section of the store and
the exact shelf on which a book is shelved, if it is in stock. Those who
need further help can get it from a store clerk. Barnes & Noble (judging
from my local store) does not have customer-accessible terminals, but has
helpful customer-service clerks who look up books on request and walk the
customer right to the book, pull it off the shelf, and hand it over.
Independent bookstores (in my experience) have staff who know their stock
and likewise can take a customer right to the book (not unlike a well
informed librarian).
And of course, if your interest is a topic rather than just a specific
title, browsing is easy by topic. The bigger the store, the more breakdown
by subtopics, noted by shelf labels. I am not at all sure that is a
problem. (Libraries have a different set of needs. I am incredulous that a
library of any size could manage without a proper classification system,
whether Dewey or Library of Congress.)
That is by way of comment on:
>In any case, why are we so enamored of bookstore classification schemes?
>Bookstores are not set up to help us find what we're looking for.
Regards,
Ken
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Kenneth W. Umbach, Ph.D.
Writing and research services
6966 Sunrise Blvd., #263, Citrus Heights, CA 95610 (mailing address)
916-733-2159 (this is voice mail, NOT a fax number)
www.umbachconsulting.com
ken@umbachconsulting.com
"The Pursuit of Publishing": http://www.lulu.com/content/740262
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