Any Australians in the house?

[ivyblossom]

Dear Australians,

I have a series of questions for you, most of which you will probably not know the answer to unless you live with or love a librarian. But here goes nothing.

1. Which classifcation scheme do you use in your academic libraries? Library of Congress? Dewey? Something homegrown of your own?
2. Do you use AACR2? If so, why is it that the Australian Library and Information Association isn't part of the group that produces it?
3. Do you use MARC?

Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,

Ivy Blossom

Comments

[ssecca01.livejournal.com]

the Majority of academic libraries use the Dewey Decimal classification system, however i think some universities in Australia use LC classification. yes we do use the AACR2 however i dont know the answer to the second part of the question. Finally yes we do use MARC

----

Heh. My sister who is on her third year of a Librarian course was wonderful enough to answer those for you. Hope they help you!

Re:

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thanks very much! I thought that the academic libraries in Aus used Dewey, but I wasn't sure. Wise, I say. I enjoy Dewey very much. Wise man, that Dewey.

Thank your sister for me!

[nyxforsythe.livejournal.com]

Hi. Randomly found your journal through HP fandom. Am Australian Uni student and can confirm that in our academic libraries we use Dewey classification scheme. Other than that I have no idea what the rest means.
Nyx

Re:

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! :D Good to know the Australians are using a thoughtful classification system. :)

[psychoticspy.livejournal.com]

I only know the answer to 1-- I'm pretty sure we use Dewey.

Re:

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Goooooooo Dewey! Thanks a lot. :)

[juliadactyl.livejournal.com]

1. Dewey. Good ol' Dewey.
2 & 3: My boyfriend (the librarian) says not in public libraries, but he thinks it may be the system that the Australian Board of Statistics uses.

[liasantana.livejournal.com]

I feel frightfully undereducated right now. The only question I can only answer is the first one. We do use the Dewey system to classify the books. As for the rest, I have no idea.

Sorry couldn't be much of a help!

[(Anonymous)]

I have a slightly related question for you, Ivy!

What's a better filing system - Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress? I worked as a paige for a year and a half in a public library (in the States) and so I know DD backwards and forwards, and I'm very distressed at the switch to LC now that I'm in college. And I'm curious.

Lisa

you don't know me, but...

[(Anonymous)]

thought would just add this: most of the libraries at my university (Monash) use Dewey -- except for the Law Library (love Dewey system, I always get lost in the law library) which uses a variation on the Moys legal classification system. One campus uses a variation of Dewey for some subjects. We do use MARC (though I never have).

Helpful link?
http://library.monash.edu.au/help/mfhd.htm#callnumber

[rhiannon333.livejournal.com]

Although my library training was MANY moons ago, I have a few comments which I hope will also help.

1. The majority of Aus libraries (public, school, academic) use the Dewey system, and given the enormity of the cost of converting, I think it will always be in use by this majority. However,a fair number of university libraries (eg: Macquarie Uni, Uni of Queensland, Uni of Sunshine Coast, University of Canberra, Uni of Western Australia) have implemented Library of Congress system, and are very happy with it. (See: http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/about/lcclass/about.html - Macquarie Uni in Sydney, set up in the 1960s.) I am also aware of a large number of special libraries using LC.

2.AFAIK they do. ALIA seem to have some involvement in the review of AACR2 - see article http://www.nla.gov.au/lis/stndrds/grps/acoc/acoc260700.html. (I have not been a member of ALIA for some years and so have no access to or up to date info other than the web).

3. They used MARC twenty years ago, so I am assuming they still do. See a relatively current ref: http://www.libraries.vic.gov.au/downloads/Victorias_Virtual_Library_Digital_Collection/catalogue.htm and also http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/committees/981marc.html. (Sorry to seem to hit you with nothing but URLs, wish I had more current personal info).

Anyhow, hope it helps.

Megan

[md-jess.livejournal.com]

My public library, old uni and old schools all used Dewey. But my TAFE uses Library of Congress and the librarian's reasoning was that there were too many books on the same thing for her to use Dewey well. At least that's what she told us, I wouldn't know. *shrugs*

Question 2... about ALIA

[jamiemay.livejournal.com]

According to my sources (my mum :), the reason that ALIA isn't part of the group that produces AACR2 is that ALIA is a professional organisation, focussing on librarianship as a whole &c. The National Library of Australia is the organisation that participates in producing AACR2. The National Library is a government funded institution, and has influence over other libraries in Australia. Whereas, ALIA is funded by membership dues.

Please let me know if you have any more detailed questions, Mum has been involved in both organisations and should be able to help.