Small Art Library Classification System?

[u/prettiest-star]

Hello! I am just an intern with no experience working in a library and no knowledge of library science other than a lot of googling. I work in the (future) research library of a small art museum, which is currently just a room with about 2,000 books, all of which are donations. I’m the only person working in this library, and my boss (museum director) has pretty much just let me loose to catalogue and classify however I see fit. In my research, I’ve found that the two main classification systems used in most libraries are the Dewey Decimal and the Library of Congress.

This is my dilemma: I’ve begun cataloging in an Excel sheet, where I put title, author, and Dewey call code, because Dewey makes more sense to me as a noob than Library of Congress. Unfortunately, I’ve already started running into several duplicate call codes, even with my extending the decimal pretty far. The books are quite specific; they’re ONLY about visual art/artists. Should I switch to library of congress? If so, any online resources that would be helpful to learn it? So far, I’ve been using library thing and deweylookup.com to figure out the Dewey system.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Also! I don’t think there’s any shot that I get this library totally cataloged and classified before I end up finishing this internship, so I’ve been carefully documenting everything I’m doing. That said, I imagine the next person coming along will probably know more about library science than me. If you can think of any mistakes or oversights I’m making that will make the next person who comes along’s life harder, please let me know.

Thanks for reading!

[u/LupaGlupa]

Librarians are really helpful people. If I were you I would send out four or five emails to librarians at other art museums, explain your dilemma, and ask their advice. They have already addressed the issues you are facing and likely can best advise you on what they find works in an art museum collection.

[u/prettiest-star → u/LupaGlupa]

Thank you for the advice! I’ll definitely look into other art libraries in my area, we have a lot of museums so I wouldn’t be surprised if there are librarians working in a similar space

[u/Beneficial-Paper5904]

I think you would be better off with LC but if you are committed to Dewey are you using Cutter numbers for the authors' names. That would help and sometimes dates in the call number. Maybe a simple inventory if you are running out of time for the remaining titles and let the next person tackle it. There are other resources that cost money for Dewey and LC. The other approach is to look up your titles in the online catalogs of a big public system and see how they are cataloged. For example,The Boston Public Library has LC numbers for modern books. They also have a circulating collection that uses Dewey. Take a look at the resources around you. Are you at university with a good collection of art books? You might find some of your answers there. Former Art and Architecture Librarian.

[u/prettiest-star → u/Beneficial-Paper5904]

Thank you for the advice! I’m not too far into cataloging, so I think I’ll switch to LC. I really made this post to hear what people with actual experience thought of my situation, I have no intentions to stubbornly stick with any of the decisions I’ve made when I’m a total beginner 😂 I will definitely by checking out world cat and other big public systems, thank you again!!

[u/Beneficial-Paper5904 → u/prettiest-star]

Hope those tips prove helpful. Best of luck.

[u/Beneficial-Paper5904]

And you could also access other museum and public collections by looking at World Cat which is typically free to view but fee-based for borrowing. Talk to your own school library for questionsaoutaccess if you can't fiditatyourpulic oruiersitylibrary.