to wonder if this is a new trend in librarianship?

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

There is too much excitement on MN at the moment so here is a really boring thread.

We have a new library in our town. It is very nice and new and shiny, with lots of good books.

However the adult books seem to be divided into two categories, Fiction and Information.

if you look more closely there is actually a crime section in Fiction, but you can only tell from which books are in it, there's no sign.
And as for the 'Information' section, it is impossible to find anything because firstly the categories are weird, (for instance there is one that is a mixture of misery memoirs and apparently random non-fiction ranging from Aric Sigman's book on why tv is bad, to how to make a will) and secondly there are no signs or labels other than 'Information' above each bookcase.

What is going on? At first I thought they just hadn't got round to it but they've been there a couple of months now. Is this a new craze among librarians? Has someone told them it's 'best practice' not to have stuff with words on because it will put off less confident readers?

Even my primary school used Dewey. I remember the excitement (honestly) when they installed the Dewey system and being taught how to use it by the librarian. I bet the school doesn't employ one now.

llareggub - i used to feel like i knew a great secret that noone else did when i used dewey to find things!
i think we must have been sad geeks at school!

Our local library doesn't do this, still has different genres of fiction (plus a Quick Picks section). Haven't heard of this before actually - having Fiction and Information.

You should go in and ask a member of staffa bout it.

As for shelving errors - well that can often be members of the public plonking books down in the wrong place

The ones installed at U Westminster a couple of years back did indeed cost £100,000 each, slowshow. I don't know whether they also wrote dissertations to order.

Oh right, so were talking about RFID super machines with chutes and mechanical book sorting and all that jazz? I can believe that. But the basic machines you get in public libraries (and small academic libraries) would cost a tiny fraction of that.

Fair point [shielded academic librarian with no self-issue or RFID]

Here the local council is planning on closing all but two of the libraries in the county! That will save them £800,000 so then they are spending a million on putting self-service things into the two that will remain!

In protest, there is a mass book withdrawal on Saturday when loads of people will be taking out their full 30-book allocation!

Suffolk? Isle of Wight?
It's awful isn't it dysgu
The "clearing the shelves" action worked really well at Stony Stratford Library in Milton Keynes the other week
Good luck!