WebJunction

Unfortunately, I think the answer to this question is: depends on the patron. I appreciate this discussion though, because it makes us think more strategically as librarians ~ how can we meet the needs of all our patrons simultaneously? Is that even possible?

In a technically enhanced world, it's more possible. Technology enables us to digitally show content items in multiple categories - even though it often has a physical object associated with it, an that object has a single number attached to it, and that number places it on X shelf in Y room, etc.

These questions/problems might be solved by continuing to educate our patrons about how they can use technology to help them find the content (digital or physical) that they want to interact with. At some point, perhaps it may not matter where the where the item is physically sitting.

Question: can we teach patrons that more effective browsing might actually take place online? Can we build systems that support that?

In repsonse to Chrystiehill's statement

"In a technically enhanced world, it's more possible. Technology enables us to digitally show content items in multiple categories - even though it often has a physical object associated with it, an that object has a single number attached to it, and that number places it on X shelf in Y room, etc."

Could you elaborate on this a bit more? Do you mean that we have the ability to give genre subject headings to our titles?

I think we can do a better job of teaching our patrons to use our online catalogs to better advantage in their search for materials. This does require us to be more diligent in our cataloging. Consistency and a plan is a must. I am finding this difficult in our small library with limited staff. Consistency is probably the biggest problem. Uniform subject and genre headings can benefit all. Consistent subject headings for character and series would certainly be a plus.

Do you mean if we did a better job of this it would not matter if an author were located in romance, mystery, etc. or the general stacks because our catalogs would indicate the titles they were interesed in reading? Knowing the author you are seeking can easily be found with an author search in our catalog. You can then link to other titles by that author by clicking on his/her name. You can further link by genre or character, etc. if our bib record includes these terms. Locating new titles would be easy using the catalog.

Are these the kinds of things you are talking about? Or does it go beyond this?

Here's a different look at it - what if we alphabetized ALL the books in the library, including the nonfiction. So, when someone comes in to look at the dog books, we ask them to tell us a title and/or author and then look it up on the computer. So, unless they are by the same author, the dog books are spread all across the collection. This is what happens with fiction. If we don't have a way for the browser to identify the kind of books he/she likes to read (be it through labels, booklists, displays or separate genre collections), it is too overwhelming for the browser to find what he/she wants. That is another reason that our new book collections often carry a huge circ number each month, even though it is a small % of the collection. It is a manageable collection that doesn't overwhelm the browser and is always different than when he/she was last in. I know some of these titles are hard to classify, but bookstores do it..... As long as your consistent with where you put that "type" of book, the people who like to read that particular genre will find it.