What are you reading in 2024?

[iris lilies]

For those interested in the obscurities of library classification systems:

Academic libraries use a different classification system called “Library of Congress” classification. It is a combination of letters and numbers that allows finer/more specific classification with shorter nomenclature than Dewy supports.

But that isn’t universal among universities. The largest Dewey collection I know is (?was?) the collection of the university of Illinois systems. Aye yi yi. The limitations of Dewey for a huge collection caused them to create some fancy idiosyncratic additional nomenclature, if I remember correctly.

Then, there are all kinds of classification systems created for specific subjects. The National Library of Medicine has a classification system for health books. There is a specialized system for Theological collections used by church libraries.

The federal government has its own classification system called Superintendent of Documents …SUDOCS for short…to organize the bezillion publications it produces. My library was a “depository” library that housed hundreds of thousands of documents issued by the Feds. Same idea for state publications, all of the states I worked in had depository programs where they sent publications to participating libraries and those documents were classed according to whatever the state system used.

And then, there are the amateur systems designed by…amateurs who think they are doing it good. My large urban library had a couple of these applied to special collections, invented by long dead librarians. Over several years we re-classed those collections into standard Dewey.

[rosarugosa]

Thanks, IL. I really do find that quite interesting.

[catherine]

I got enough of that BS in my job where I was ultimately responsible for organizing 3 million items in our library system! Haha. Have I mentioned lately how happy I am to be retired?

Wow. I'm in awe. Put that on my list of jobs I'd be fired from my first week.

I found The Purge of 2019 to have been an interesting exercise in discovering the books I value. So far, I haven't regretted any of the many donations I made to the local library. When I look at the books I took with me to VT, I'm very satisfied with my small collection of about 100 books. Of course, the fact that I also have hundreds of books on Kindle helps assuage feelings of literary deprivation.

[rosarugosa]

I've always thought I would have been a good librarian. In my mega-corp job, I was responsible for the personnel records of tens of thousands of employees, and then I ultimately oversaw the conversion of all those paper files to digital. I had also previously been responsible for a vast collection of medical records. I am organized to a fault; I cannot even imagine living any other way. I track things on spreadsheets and keep lists and notebooks for the sheer pleasure of it.

[Tradd]

So is the Dewey Decimal System still used? I somehow got the impression it wasn’t?

I just finished The Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas. It’s part of the romantasy category. Mix of romance and fantasy. I’ve always enjoyed both genre. I really enjoyed these books. Good world building.

[iris lilies]

I've always thought I would have been a good librarian. In my mega-corp job, I was responsible for the personnel records of tens of thousands of employees, and then I ultimately oversaw the conversion of all those paper files to digital. I had also previously been responsible for a vast collection of medical records. I am organized to a fault; I cannot even imagine living any other way. I track things on spreadsheets and keep lists and notebooks for the sheer pleasure of it.

if the idea of order and organization appeals to you, yes! You would be a good technical services librarian. They’re the ones who work behind the scenes, they’re not public facing. The cat they ordered catalog and classify materials and send them out to the shelves where the public librarians work with the public in selecting materials

[catherine]

I've always thought I would have been a good librarian. ... I am organized to a fault; I cannot even imagine living any other way. I track things on spreadsheets and keep lists and notebooks for the sheer pleasure of it.

I believe that about you. I keep spreadsheets, too, but mine, like my budget reports, are like the reports by people who track the storm impact after the tsunami has already hit. I am organized in some ways, but chaotic in others. I think I probably have ADD, but I've only thought so after two my adult children were diagnosed with it and are getting medication for it.

[bae]

This week’s read: “The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It”

https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324006275

[catherine]

This week’s read: “The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It”

https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324006275

Looks good. I see Daniel Ellsberg is featured--when I went to Marymount in 1971, Elizabeth McAlister had left her vocation as a nun and position as an art teacher there, and had begun a relationship with Philip Berrigan, who was indicted with Ellsberg, I believe. The scuttlebutt on campus at that time about their relationship and their involvement in the peace movement made a huge impact on me.

[frugal-one]

This week’s read: “The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It”

https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324006275

Interesting in summation of book …

In the 1970s, Richard Nixon committed criminal acts that flowed from his corrupt ideas about presidential power. Through their actions. (discussed 5 presidents), these presidents illuminated the trip wires that can damage or even destroy our democracy.