Interview—can any library people help?!

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I have an interview for a library job (go me!) and as part of the process I will have to “sort books into the correct sequence order”. I have no library work experience but I know they use the Dewey Decimal system and I am somewhat familiar with it. I just want to check with anyone who works in a library and/or knows the Dewey Decimal system, that to sort them they just need to be placed in numerical order. For example, if I was asked to sort the following: 220.9, 394.26, 292, 403, 398.2, 741.24, I would order them like this: 220.9, 292, 394.26, 398.2, 403, 741.24? Is that correct? Is that all that’s involved?

I so badly want this job! I am also ridiculously nervous!

Thank you.

Congratulations on being considered! I loved being a shelver in the past.

And, yes, that is pretty much what you do: put the numbers in order. It helps to know what the classifications mean, but you will learn that as you go.

Shellvng is a great job: you get lots of time alone in the stacks.

Thank you so much. The job does seem perfect for me! Thanks for your help.

Good luck with the interview. One item of note, not all libraries use the Dewey Decimal system. Academic libraries do not, they use an alphabetical subject system combined with decimals. How to put up books is pretty much the same. If the book is
A 245.284c
it goes in the A section, then in numerical order. This is because each letter or pair of letters is a subject section (fiction, biology, childhood education, theology) that is specific to the library and can vary based on the sub division of subjects they need. At my school the last four numbers are the publication year. The letters between the decimal letters and the year indicate the author if needed.

So for the following list:
TL152.5 .V36 2008
HE5623 .N67 2008
HV8079.5 .W47 1978
PS3608.A54576 H68 2011
ML3930.F5 O65 2010
PR6005.H66 C3 2007
HQ783 .W515 2011
RJ506.A9 K35 2011
RC531 .C45 2011
RJ506.A9 F694 2008

The order would be:
HE5623 .N67 2008
HQ783 .W515 2011
HV8079.5 .W47 1978
ML3930.F5 O65 2010
PR6005.H66 C3 2007
PS3608.A54576 H68 2011
RC531 .C45 2011
RJ506.A9 F694 2008
RJ506.A9 K35 2011
TL152.5 .V36 2008



I hope you get the job. I find libraries to be peaceful and relaxing.

Thank you, nebrets. I am 99% certain they use the Dewey Decimal system, but thank you for the extra information. If I am wrong, I won't be as surprised!