Learning and Teaching: Evening and Weekend Guide: Shelving and Shelf Tidying

Shelving & Shelf Tidying

Shelving and shelf tidying are some of your core duties as a Library Assistant. It entails:

Shelving returned books
Collecting books left around the library
Tidying the shelves
Ensuring that the books are on the shelves in the correct order

Current Process for Shelf Tidying

We need to make sure the shelves are neat and tidy in advance of the library re-opening fully. You will need to ensure that:

All books appear neat and tidy
They are arranged in dewey decimal order, alphabetically via cutter
Different editions are ordered so that the newest edition comes first, and so on
Different loan types are ordered as follows: Standard Loan, Short Loan, Overnight Loan, Reference
There is at least two hand-widths of space at the end of each shelf, with a bookend to keep everything upright
Any empty shelves are utilised (i.e., books are moved onto them)
Any books on trollies at the end of shelves are re-located to their correct place; if you’re unable to do this due to the shelves being too full, please detail the problem areas on the spreadsheet provided

Because of the requirement to staff two helpdesks, you will not be expected to work on a singular area owned by you. Everyone is expected to participate during their admin hours, moving through the collection chronologically. We will keep track of where we are via this spreadsheet (also signposted in your quick links). I have also created a laminated sheet (on desk in back office) which can be placed between the books wherever you get up to.

The Dewey System

The Dewey system refers to the numerical system the library uses to organise the books.

Each Dewey number consists of a three-digit number and a potentially unlimited amount of numbers after the decimal point
These numbers are assigned to books by the relevant subject librarian in accordance with the Dewey system.
The first three numbers broadly refer to the main subject of the book and are used to divide the contents of the stacks. The basic categories are as follows:

000 – 099	Computer Science & Information
100 – 199	Philosophy and psychology
200 – 299	Religion
300 – 399	Social science
400 – 499	Language
500 – 599	Science
600 – 699	Technology
700 – 799	Arts and recreation
800 – 899	Literature
900 – 999	History (by country and Geography)

The number after the decimal point typical refers to further specialisations within these topics

Shelving & Ordering Books

It is important that Library Assistants do all that they can to shelve all books during their evening and weekend shifts.

Book Order

Books are shelved from left to right. When a shelf is full, continue on the next shelf down. When reaching the bottom shelf return to the top shelf on the right.

Books are first and foremost shelved by their classmark / shelfmark / dewey number from left to right from lowest to highest. If the number of two books are the same, they are then shelved in alphabetical order according to the three-letter cutter on the spine label. Starting with the first letter and moving through each one in turn.

If both the number and the cutter match there are few things to consider when shelving a book.

The most common explanation for identical spine labels is that they are the same book, or multiple editions of the same book. If they are different editions, they are shelved newest to oldest from left to right.
If they are different loan types, they are ordered from left to right as follows: Long loan, short loan, Overnight loan, reference. In terms of the colour of spine label the order is: green, yellow, blue then red.

Variations

If the classmark on the spine label is preceded by STSK it is kept with the study skills books in the PC suite. Normal shelving practices apply.
If the classmark on the spine label is preceded by PGR it is kept in the postgraduate study room. Normal shelving practices apply.
If the classmark has a lone ‘P’ that is not a part of the cutter it is a pamphlet and is kept in a cardboard magazine file within the stacks. These files can either be found in the relevant numerical section or at the end of the 900 section alongside the large books and folios. Each file will have a label saying what numerical range of pamphlets they hold. Try to keep the Pamphlets in order within the magazine file.

Tidying

Tidying can be done while shelving, but time every weekend should be dedicated to tidying. Tidying generally consists of checking the shelves of a section, and ensuring the books are in good order. This is also a good time to check for damaged books.

The most important part of tidying is to make sure the books are in the correct order as per the shelving instructions above. Books can easily be misshelved.
Try to make sure that none of the shelves are too full. Ideally, there should be enough space at the end of every shelf for you place both your hands side-by-side flat on the shelf.
Stopping the shelves from being too crowded may require you to move considerable amounts of books up and down shelves. This is fine to do if they stay in order.
Space on shelves may be temporary if a lot of books from one section are out at once; for example if there is major essay deadline on a course with many students. Avoid filling these spaces as when the books return and need to be shelved it will cause problems.
Make sure books are as upright as possible and not slanting to one side.
Make sure each shelf has both types of bookends towards the right. This means having one stop that sits on the shelf with books on top of the long flat metal plate, and one that ‘wedges’ in the top of the shelf and looks like a ‘V’. The V-shaped stop should be outside of the sitting stop.
Pull all the book forwards so they are smooth with the edge of the shelf and each other. This stops small books from sliding to the back and helps keep all books visible. This is not always possible especially when books are ring bound.