Soapbox Wednesday: I Love My Library Customers but here is the one question I hate being asked . . .

I love my library customers, I really do.  They often come in an ask thoughtful questions that they really want the answer too.  Perhaps they need help on the computers, or maybe they need help finding a specific book,  or maybe they need the contact information for their local representative.  I will happily answer all of their questions. Even questions that may seem silly to them.  Well, that is not entirely true.  There is one question that causes me to shutter, take a deep breath, and compose myself before responding and that question is:

DO YOU STILL USE THE DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM? [Chuckle, Chuckle]

I know that I am being a bit of curmudgeon about even writing this post but . . .

Here is why I hate that question:

1.  I don’t think think the person asking it really wants an answer.  This is mostly why this question annoys me.  I think that the person saying it is trying to be clever and original, and I have heard this question enough times now that I don’t find it to be either of these things.  I think what they are saying is “It has been a long time since I have been in a library and I remember something from elementary school library class about the Dewey Decimal system so I am going to say this and now so you can see I haven’t been in a library in a long time.”
2. It also seems like they might be saying, “I am too cool to go into libraries and I don’t read so maybe you nerds can help me out.”
3. If I did give them a serious answer I think they would be really bored. It would go something like this, “Yes, we still use it, thought not all libraries use the Dewey model for organizing their books.  Some libraries use the Library of Congress System or the Bookstore Model or even SuDocs for Government Documents.”  In this library we actually use a modified/ hybrid version of Dewey where our non-fiction books are put into topics like health, math, or business then organized by their Dewey Number. Our fiction is organized into mysteries, science fiction, romances, and general fiction by the author’s last name.  Our biographies are organized by the last name of the person they are written about except for Presidential biographies.  Those biographies have their own category.
4. Finally,  the last thing that annoys me about this conversation is that usually the person asking the question will follow it up by asking where a fiction book is and those books don’t have Dewey Decimal numbers so the entire conversation is slightly useless.

I would like to say that mostly I tolerate this question well, but this past weekend someone was especially smirky when they asked me it and I think that is what inspired this post.
Please though, don’t be afraid to ask your libraian or library worker questions.  We like them. . . and you . . .we really do 🙂
Despite this post we are not actually super grumpy, I swear 🙂