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Project summary/background

Education librarian Elizabeth Webster has proposed a reclass and shelving reorganization of the children’s literature collection. To accomplish this, we will be creating customized call numbers for each title and entering them into Sierra records.

Fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels will each be handled differently. See below.

Phase 1 instructions

Start with this spreadsheet. There are tabs for fiction and nonfiction.

Graphic novels and poetry will need to be identified out of both these lists as you go, and set aside for now. They will be handled differently and those plans are still being formed.

Fiction

Fiction will be divided into 3 separate categories: children, middle grade, and young adult.

This does not include graphic novels and poetry, which are treated differently. For now, mark any graphic novels or poetry you come across in the spreadsheet and we’ll return to them later.

Determine the age range of the book in question
- Children = any title with |f picture in the call number
- Middle grade = any title highlighted on the spreadsheet
- Young adult = any title not highlighted, with no |f picture in the call number (i.e., chapter books)
Formulate the call number using the age range code and the author’s last name or, in the case of title main entry, the first word of the title (skipping any initial articles)

Age range	\|f	\|a

Age range	\|f	\|a
Children	C	[Author last name OR first word of title]
Middle grade	MG	[Author last name OR first word of title]
Young adult	YA	[Author last name OR first word of title]

Enter the call number in an

099 field

Remember: no spaces before or after delimiters in Sierra!
Examples:
099__|fC|aFaulkner
099__|fMG|aLindgren

Ensure the 099 is

y-tagged

Save the record

This new practice will result in duplicate 099s for multiple titles by the same author; this is ok! All fictional works by one author will be shelved together and further suborganization isn’t necessary for the purposes of the collection.

Nonfiction

Nonfiction will be classified using Dewey, and numbers should not expand beyond 2 digits after the decimal. Nonfiction titles will be divided into two age ranges: children and young adult.

This does not include graphic novels and poetry, which are treated differently. For now, mark any graphic novels or poetry you come across in the spreadsheet and we’ll return to them later.

Determine the age range of the book in question
- Children = any title with |f picture in the call number
- Young adult = no |f picture in the call number (i.e., chapter books)
Navigate to http://classify.oclc.org/
- Perform a search on your title
- Select the correct edition
- Use the provided Dewey class number
If the Classify service has no suggestion, try these alternative strategies:
- Navigate to ClassWeb and select the Bibliographic Correlations tool
  - Enter the title’s primary subject heading in the search box, using two dashes between subdivisions
  - If there is a clear choice, use the provided Dewey class number
- Search the title in WorldCat and look for Dewey classification in existing copy records
- Search these catalogs:
- If none of these methods are successful, mark the item as “needs original” and move on to the next entry.
Formulate and enter the new call number as shown:

Age range	\|f	\|a

Age range	\|f	\|a
Children	C	Dewey class # + [Author last name OR first word of title]
Young adult	YA	Dewey class # + [Author last name OR first word of title]

(In most cases, just reuse the cutter and year from the existing LC call number; otherwise, formulate the cutter as you would normally.)

Enter the call number in an

099 field

Examples:
099 |f C |a 951.05 |b Jones
Ensure the 099 is

y-tagged

Save the record

A title’s record in Sierra may already have a Dewey number in the 082 field; feel free to use this, but it’s not a bad idea to verify a match between the Dewey number and the primary subject using ClassWeb or other methods as described above.

Phase 2 instructions

Midway through the project, some sublocation codes and call number construction practices had to be adjusted (see final sublocation chart below). Any necessary tweaks to books already reclassed in Phase 1 will be handled via a small global update project. In Phase 2, the final sublocation chart should be used for all categories.

Retrospective reclassification

Start with this spreadsheet. New tabs have been added since Phase 1 for Graphic Novels, Poetry, and Biography. New additions/newly sorted titles have also been made to Fiction and Nonfiction.

Choose any uncompleted rows in Fiction, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, or Poetry
- Skip biography tab (Autumn will be handling this entirely via a global update)
Add 099 using final sublocation chart below
Y-tag 099
Mark as completed on spreadsheet

New book backlog

Select materials from “pending” section on temporary shelves by Autumn’s door
Catalog as usual
Add 099 using final sublocation chart below
1. Elizabeth has indicated new sublocs on all streamers, but if you find an outlier, email her at ewebster@msu.edu
Y-tag 099 and suppress record
Return to “completed” section on temporary shelves

Final sublocation chart

COLLECTION	SUBLOC CODE	LABEL genre label on top c-tagged 090 below
Fiction Children’s	mnjfc	FC author last name
Fiction Middle Grade	mnjfm	FMG author last name
Fiction YA	mnjfy	FYA author last name
Nonfiction Children’s	mnjnc	NFC Dewey # author last name
Nonfiction YA	mnjny	NFYA Dewey # author last name
Graphic novels	mnjgn	GN author last name
Poetry/verse	mnjpv	POETRY author last name
Biography	mnjbg	BIO biographee last name OR ”GROUP”

MSUL-TS Pandemic Operations

Children's literature reclass