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Collection Reclassification at Toronto Botanical Garden, Weston Family Library

Discover the background and problem faced by Toronto Botanical Garden Library and how they tackled it by reclassifying their collection from DDC to LCC. Learn about the process, challenges, and benefits of this project.

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Collection Reclassification at Toronto Botanical Garden, Weston Family Library

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  1. Collection Reclassification atToronto Botanical Garden, Weston Family Library From DDC to LCC, for free!

  2. Weston Family Library

  3. Background • 1959 – Civic Garden Centre was created by the Garden Club of Toronto in the historic Milne House at Edwards Gardens • The Library of the Garden Club of Toronto was installed in the new CGC • Dorothy Clark – librarian in 1961, started with about 250 books • She grew the collection through donations from Garden Club members

  4. 1962

  5. Some books from the fire are still in the collection

  6. Background 1964 – Brand new Civic Garden Centre was built, including library space

  7. Background • By 1967, through the aid of various grants, the library had grown into a respectable horticulture collection • Invited to join the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries (CBHL) • 1973 - CGC hosted the annual CBHL meeting

  8. Background • Mid 1970’s, the CGC was expanded again and the library moved to much larger space • The collection continued to grow

  9. Background • The Civic Garden Centre eventually became Toronto Botanical Garden in the mid-2000’s • The library collection now has over 10,000 volumes

  10. The Problem • A lot of changes • A lot of growth • A lot of volunteers All good things!

  11. The Problem Summary from DDC20 635.04 Cultivation, harvesting, related topics .1 Edible roots .2 Edible tubers and bulbs .3 Edible leaves, flowers, stems .4 Cooking greens and rhubarb .5 Salad greens .6 Edible garden fruits and seeds .7 Aromatic and sweet herbs .8 Mushrooms and truffles .9 Flowers and ornamental plants

  12. The Problem • Collection started small with an adapted DDC classification system • Worked well on a small scale • As the collection grew, it outgrew the adapted DDC so people started cataloguing using standard DDC • Unfortunately, both systems used overlapping notation!

  13. The Problem “Loosely Adapted” DDC

  14. The Problem • Subjects interfiled in ways that made browsing very confusing • Subjects split into separate shelf areas due to tandem classification schemes (e.g. 2 sections for shade gardens, 2 sections for perennials, etc.) • Ornamental horticulture (635.9) numbers quickly became very long and cumbersome – resulting in frequent filing errors during reshelving

  15. Brea Olinda High School Library post earthquake Toronto Botanical Garden, Weston Family Library https://i.pinimg.com/474x/14/f4/4f/14f44f4528994961e04caa19d57af4d0--high-school-libraries-literature-books.jpg

  16. Discovering the scope of the problem • Complete shelf analysis • Mapping notation areas with measurements of their shelf space # of cm Notation DDC20 Local Results For thorough clean up: 86.25% of library needed reclassification to convert to standard DDC

  17. Solutions Considered a) convert to standard DDC – according to library records, this project had been started more than once but never completed. Would still run into problems with long class numbers/lack of specificity b) refine and update the adapted system and convert to that – No c) convert to LCC

  18. Solutions Considered

  19. Research • Read papers about reclassification projects of various sizes to get an idea of what’s involved • Began visualizing the process • Reached out to some service providers who do reclassification projects for libraries Had to convince myself that it was possible before I could convince others!

  20. Making the Case • Convincing library volunteer team that this mega project will be worth it – painting the vision, getting people on board • Clearing project with Admin • Moving forward, TBG is expanding and growing its research and ecological restoration focus. Moving to a more ‘academic’ classification system makes that transition and expansion easier • Asking around to see how much volunteer power I could muster

  21. Making the Case • Convincing Admin that the project was both achievable and necessary • Convincing Volunteers of the same • Dealing with resistance to change • Play on frustrations with the current system • Have a face-to-face, round table discussion, with food

  22. The Process Read up on other libraries’ reclassification projects to see what might work best in your situation General Process: 1) Reclassifying the Data a) Bibliographic Records b) Item Records 2) Physical Relabeling and Shifting 3) Post project clean-up

  23. Process Bib records data • Began by exporting the entire catalogue of MARC records • Used MarcEdit’s “Generate Call Numbers” tool

  24. ProcessBib records data • MarcEdit’s “Generate Call Numbers” tool uses OCLC Classify, an experimental classification web service http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/

  25. ProcessBib records data MarcEdit’s “Generate Call Numbers” tool

  26. ProcessBib records data MarcEdit’s “Generate Call Numbers” tool

  27. ProcessBib records data MarcEdit’s “Generate Call Numbers” tool

  28. ProcessBib records data MarcEdit’s “Generate Call Numbers” tool

  29. ProcessBib records data • MarcEdit then pings OCLC Classify, record by record, and inserts a call number where found • This process takes a while. Time for Lunch!

  30. ProcessBib records data • Problems with this - relies on standard numbers • Many of our records were missing this data • About 7000 records returned with LCC numbers, leaving roughly 3000 without LCC numbers • These need to be classified manually

  31. ProcessBib records data • Used MarcEdit to convert the MARC records into a huge spreadsheet using the “Export Tab-delimited records” function. • Used Excel to sort data • Sort out records with 090 fields from those without 090 (i.e. those with LCC numbers from those without) • Sorted both of these files into several smaller files based on shelving location (Reference, SOOS, TAVS, THS, JP, J, JFIC, JA, Historical, Periodical, Main collection, Fiction) • Total of 24 spreadsheets

  32. ProcessManual Classification • Team of volunteer Librarians, Library Schools students, those with experience assigning classification numbers • Started with Reference collection • Assigned call numbers and edited records directly in Koha (our ILS) • Worked from simple lists of barcodes, sectioned from master list • Team of 3-4 people, working a few hours weekly • Created cutter numbers as they went

  33. ProcessBib records data Example spreadsheet for classification team – Historical Collection

  34. ProcessChecking Data • Went through the list of records classified by OCLC and checked for accuracy and specificity • e.g. SB466 – world gardens sorted geographically, we need maximum specificity here where many libraries classify more generally • For efficiency, this required having the files sorted in LCC order – something Excel does not do…

  35. ProcessSorting Data • “Library of Congress (LC) call number EXCEL sort macro Wizard” created by Cindy Ellis and Diane Carroll (Creative Commons License) • https://research.wsulibs.wsu.edu/xmlui/handle/2376/2567?show=full

  36. ProcessBib records data Used the Reference collection as a guinea pig to test for problems Having broken down collection into smaller collection areas, worked through each section in turn. Creates important opportunities to celebrate progress points and keep the energy from stagnating “We’ve completed the reference section!”

  37. Process Item records • Once all the bib records in a collection area had LCC numbers in the 090 fields, engaged the next volunteer team • This team: • edited item records • printed and affixed new spine labels • Checked and updated other item level data such as shelving location • Shelved books in their new LCC location • Created very simple, step-by-step instruction sheet with screen shots

  38. Process Item records Benefit of editing item records and relabeling/reshelving in one step: Every book is exactly where it says it will be when you look it up in the catalogue – no need to muck around with shelving notes

  39. Process Item records • Ran a fresh export of records from our ILS • This export included both the manually, and digitally classified records • Converted to Excel using MarcEdit • Separated into collection areas • Sorted into LCC order using LC Sort Wiz • Used Excel functions to create cutters (we don’t use cutter table codes) and append collection codes to call numbers

  40. Process Item records • Provided volunteers with simple sheets listing books in LCC call number order

  41. Process Item records • Volunteers picked books from DDC range, edited items, relabeled and then shelved in new LCC location

  42. Process Physical Space • Measure • Total shelf space available (A) • Total shelf space occupied by books (B) • Subtract (A)-(B) = unoccupied shelf space (C) • Optional: Subtract from (C) several shelves worth of space to account for collection growth space • Divide (C) by the total number of shelves = how much space to leave on each shelf while shifting • Cut a measuring stick to this length for volunteers to use while shelving! • I used a piece of foam core.

  43. Process Physical Space • Map your library to visualize the shift For detailed shifting explanation of a large collection, see: Using Spreadsheets to Map a Library Reclassification, Reorganization, and Merger. Stephanie Wright, Nancy Blase. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. Winter, 2006. DOI:10.5062/F4JQ0XZ1

  44. Process Physical Space • Library has no ‘swing space’ • Compressed all DDC books as far to the end as possible to free up shelf space at head of collection • As LCC books filled this space, simply reshifted DDC books to the back • DDC section gradually decreases as LCC section gradually fills up • This allowed the collection to be easily accessed throughout the process – the call number in the catalogue always matches the call number on the book.

  45. Process Physical Space • Circulating books • Placed on hold as relabeling volunteers came across them, relabeled and shelved as they came in. • New books were catalogued using LCC throughout project • Placed on a separate waiting shelf in LCC order • Filed into the collection as their call number was reached by the relabeling volunteers

  46. Throughout the Project • Found and resolved all the ‘missing’ books in the collection! • Found and resolved other issues like items without shelving locations, duplicate bib records, etc.

  47. Post Project • Post reclassification – separate volunteer team doing systematic inventory to proofread labels, make sure they match catalogue records, correct errors • Choose font carefully! Serifs highly recommended (1 and l for example). • Also, consider a font with slashed zeros (0 and O for example) • You will learn which volunteers have poor eyesight! • Final touches - worked through collection and added subject labels to the shelves to make the collection more browseable

  48. Questions Mark Stewart Knowledge Resources Manager Toronto Botanical Garden, Weston Family Library librarian@torontobotanicalgarden.ca

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