Hello, dear readers. Today’s blog post will be brief, because I have have been spending my time in the stacks, instead of at the computer. While my eyes are thanking me for the reduction in screen time, I realize that there may be some disappointment on your part that this isn’t a more book-centric post.  You have my apologies for that, but you also have my assurances that my time in the stacks has been put to good use. As promised a year ago, almost to the date (where does the time go?) the South Branch is adopting the BISAC system for our Adult Non-Fiction collection in hopes that it will make finding what you need easier and, hopefully browsing the non-fiction stacks more pleasurable.

For me there is often a great sense of enjoyment from finding something I want to read right next to something I was looking for. While the Library of Congress system has many merits, it doesn’t generally allow for that type of serendipitous browsing.  The BISAC system groups like items together: sports, biographies, cookbooks, etc. organized by the authors last name (and sometimes a sub-category, if necessary). So if you’re looking for a cookbook by Rachael Ray, you’ll find them right next to each other on the shelf. Biographies and memoirs are organized by the last name of the book’s subject (with a few exceptions, like royalty. Anyone know what Elizabeth II or Queen Victoria’s last names are? I sure don’t!) so instead of wondering who wrote that latest biography of the Wright brothers (David McCullough), you can just look in the Biography section under W. And while it’s a little odd to see Audrey Hepburn next to Hitler in our small collection, it still makes finding a lot easier.

If you’d like more information about the BISAC system in general, I recommend you take a look at last year’s Saturdays @ the South post: Much Ado about BISAC. If you’d like to see BISAC in action, you can take a look at the kids’ non-fiction section here at the South, or take a look at the West’s adult non-fiction section where they’ve been enjoying BISAC for more than a year now.

I look forward to talking more specifically about books with you next week, dear readers. Until then, I’m heading back into the stacks to make your library experience as easy and, hopefully, as pleasurable as it can be.