Alpena County Library Solves Problems with New Organizational System

Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena County Library Librarian Tina Markowski places a colored label on a book in the library Tuesday. The library is switching from the Dewey Decimal System to a new browsing method. The move helps library visitors navigate to books in specific subject groups.

ALPENA — The Alpena County Library is in the process of changing how it categorizes books, hoping to reduce the risk of minors stumbling upon books that some area residents say contain sexual content.

The change in how the books are presented means the books in question, such as “Let’s Talk About It,” “It’s Perfectly Normal,” and several others, will remain in the YA sections where they currently are, but will be labeled to display their sub-genre.

In a press release Monday, the library said it is moving away from the Dewey Decimal System and toward the Browse method, which categorizes books into nine different categories. The method was created to make it easier to find books on specific topics, such as history, science, entertainment, art and literature, and more.

The topics of books falling into these categories and their subcategories will be easily tagged to make them easier to find, similar to how they are found in bookstores, the library said in a press release.

Books on human anatomy and body structure would be catalogued under the sections: Science: Biology; Anatomy and Physiology, while titles on sexuality, body autonomy, and other topics related to sex education would be catalogued under the sections: Body, Health, and Mind: Family Life; Sex Education.

Assistant Library Director Jessica Luther said in a press release that the move will provide younger readers and their parents with first-hand exposure to topics they are interested in, and will also reduce the risk of someone accidentally stumbling upon one of the books that has been controversial at Alpena for about two years.

She said the idea of implementing a different system had been on the table for several years, but the library wanted to explore other options before making a decision. Luther said the plan to switch to the Browse method really took off late last winter and into the spring.

Right now, Luther said, the staff is busy making changes to how books are classified, labeled and located, but with more than 4,000 books in the youth nonfiction section, it will take some time to complete. She said that once that section is complete, the staff will begin the same process in the teen and young adult sections.

“It’s a huge undertaking, but with everything that’s going on with the books and the desire to meet people in the middle and address the issues, we felt it should be a priority,” Luther said. “Our youth team is already working on the transition.”

Luther said each book in those sections has to be pulled out and categorized into one of the main categories, and then each category is represented on a book with a colored label. She said all catalog numbers have to be changed and the shelves will have to be rearranged because not all the books that are in place now will be placed on the shelves with the same ones as they are now.

“There are a lot of moving parts,” she said.

Alpena County commissioners got involved when critics of the books and their location in the library asked the county for help moving the books to a section they believed would be more age-appropriate. Many commissioners favored having the library board move the books, but library officials said it would censor free speech.

Commissioner Burt Francisco said he thinks the change in book categorization is a good move because it makes books more recognizable to parents. However, he added that he still has concerns that minors could check out books if they come to the library without an adult.

“Maybe this opens the door to more dialogue and more compromise,” Francisco said. “It gives me optimism that maybe we can reach an agreement. I’m a little calmer, but I’m still worried that some 12-year-old will be able to check it out, but I think we’re closer to an acceptable position.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.

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