Question: How can I get catalog information off the computer? I know there is a way to get the information without purchasing the cards.
Response: There are a couple of ways to get catalog information for a book without purchasing the shelf cards. If you have not automated your library, and you have a card catalog, you will want to purchase the cards. But if you are automating your library, it might be an unnecessary expense. Here are three ways to find the Dewey number for a book.
1. The first way is to look in the book itself especially for newer books. There is a page called the ‘imprint page’ or the ‘verso page’ that contains publisher information, ISBN numbers, and much more. It is usually on the back side of the title page, but we notice it more and more often at the back of the book. If you look carefully you will find the number that the publisher has given. In one of my new books titled “All About Sleep from A to ZZZZZ” the Dewey number on the verso page is 612.8’21. You can use 612.8 or you can add the extra two numbers.
Recently we bought a set of five books about forensics. Each book has a different subject. One is on Forensic Entomology (614.1), another is about Ballistics (363.25’62), Fingerprint analysis (363.25’8), becoming a crime investigator (363.25’2), and Forensic Artists (363.25’8). You will notice that the book on entomology has a completely different Dewey number. After a discussion, my assistant and I decided to put this set together with the number of 363.25. We thought that the one lone book might be lost in the stacks and we wanted to be able to shelve the books together as a group which will get them noticed and checked out. We could have used the publisher’s recommendation, but instead we chose to use the numbers that would work better in our library. You can see that those numbers aren’t written in stone.
2. The second way to get a Dewey number is to go to http://catalog.loc.gov/ . Click on Basic Search, Type in the title of the book you need the Dewey number for, and press Enter. You may need to select the title you want from a list. It could be that there are sound recordings, paperbacks, hardbacks, or videos or DVDs of that title. When you have selected the book, you need to click “Full Record” and the Dewey number will be on that page. This is a good way to get information for older books that may not have the publisher information.
3. A third way is to ask another librarian how they processed the book. Make friends with your public library staff and see if they are willing to help you for a few difficult books. You can also send me an email and my assistant, Joy Palmer, and I will be happy to help.
As you are putting the information into your computer program, don’t forget to include tags to help you locate the book. The book about sleep mentioned above gives a tag “sleep – juvenile literature”. I would also add other tags as I am processing the book such as “dreams, dreaming, sleepwalking, nightmare, terror,” and anything else that would be useful. If I bought that book because a particular teacher asked for it for a unit he was teaching, I would also put the name of the unit so he could type in the unit name and get the books he needed the next time he taught the unit.
I hope this information is helpful to you. Last year a similar question came up in a slightly different form. Check the February 2009 posts for similar information.
Have a wonderful week,
Audrey
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