You're Not Helping

Here's another one for the "you're not helping your cause" award:

Apparently a FL state senator wants to prove just how ignorant she is by attacking Dewey and "little old librarians". As a former library page, ex-library supervisor, and spouse to a young librarian, this was just laughable. It seems to do more harm than good, when viewed by anyone who actually uses a library.

Sure, Dewey decimal has its issues, primarily in the 200s range (a little anachronistic, but not in the way that I think Storms means it, since Dewey gave the vast majority of the 200s over to Christianity [210-280s], with little to nothing left for other religions [290s]) and for large collections. But to organize libraries like Barnes & Noble? Nothing would ever be found, especially in larger collections. The ignorance here, I think, comes in part from a lack of understanding, which leads to a false analogy. The purpose of B&N is to sell things, thus flashy displays and piling stuff together in general groups in order to entice people to buy more than they'd initially planned. Libraries exist to provide access to information. Thus, libraries need a codified system by which all the information, and this in no exaggeration, in the world can be organized.

Next, she'll probably go after the Library of Congress system used in her state's university libraries (even more convoluted than Dewey). Probably postal area codes after that (after all, they are a system that requires "training for staff and users" and are "just plain frustrating" as anyone who has accidentally transposed numbers knows).