What classification system would be a optimal choice for a school library?

What would be the most effective classification to shelf books in a small library of a school? I think LCC and Dewey Decimal would be "overkill" for just textbooks for grades.

Bishnu Paudel

public-libraries
academic-libraries
classification
school-libraries

Comments

Ashley Nunn: What about the LOC system and the Dewey system would be overkill? Giving us a better idea of what you are looking for in terms of what you have tried or researched would be helpful here.
Bishnu Paudel: I am looking for a way to classify books,reports, submitted assignement, research , projects etc.. in School which will mainly be textbooks. I think the Subject categories specified in LOC and Dewey is too broad as we are talking about school textbooks. I am actually after an example where people have implemented classification for small school libraries...
Gem: While you may feel that DDC is overkill, it might still be worth considering. There are a vast number of resources available to help libraries who use Dewey. Depending on how much on-going classification you expect there to be, you may end up spending more staff time using an alternative system that theoretically fits your library better but doesn't have enough outside support for.
Wowbagger: Who are your primary users? "School libraries" generally refers to K-12 students, but if you're classifying textbooks and assignments, it sounds like this may be mainly for teachers?
Mary Jo Finch: By sticking with DDC, you will be better prepared for the future when you might add other things to your library besides text books.

Answer by Gem

I wasn't able to find many resources on the subject. It seems like most school libraries, even very small ones, tend to use Dewey Decimal. I did find a PDF of a presentation titled Developing Searching Skills that mentioned three other types of classifications some libraries use:

Timetable Classification - This seems to be a very loose framework on how to make your own classification. Here's another brief mention of it: http://ict4fiji.wordpress.com/
Junior Color Code Classification
Simplified Dewey Decimal Classification

Red Hawk Elementary School has switched from Dewey to BISAC (the model most bookstores use).

Comments

Answer by wdenton

DDC is the default classification scheme used in schools in North America, so people (teachers or students) would be familiar with it.

As well, with Dewey you can classify to the hundreds or tens or ones and stop wherever you want to suit your local needs. If you have a few math books you could put them all in 510 and use author last names to distinguish them (e.g. 510 EUC or 510 EUCLID, 510 FERM, etc.). Later, if one section is getting too crowded, you could reclassify to the ones (511 EUC, 515 FERM) or do a full classification.

Dewey numbers for textbooks are easily found in the LC Cataloguing-in-Publication data on the title page verso, too (as are LC numbers), or online.

Even if you don't classify things in great detail, using Dewey will arrange all your material in a familiar order, bringing together all the social sciences into the 300s, arts into the 700s, etc.

BISAC is another option, as Gem suggested. People would also be generally familiar with it.