Biography & Audiobook - What Call Letters to use?

If we use "B" for biography, would it be confusing to use "BCD" for book on CD (audiobook)? If we use BCD, would it be better to use Bio for biography? OR maybe use CDBk for book on CD (audiobook)? What are your thoughts / experience with this?

 

An Example:

Christian Heroes Then and Now Series 

George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol's Orphans, by Janet and Geoff Benge

ISBN: 1576587266         ISBN-13: 9781576587263

 

BCD = Book on CD (Audiobook on CD)              OR       BCD  

YB = Youth Biography                                                         YBio                                                

Mul = Muller                                                                         Mul     

 

OR

 

CDBk = Book on CD (Audiobook on CD)                  

YB = Youth Biography                                                               

Mul = Muller                                                                                

 

Any thoughts / advice? I just want to be consistent with whatever we end up doing.

       Thank you.

 

 

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Replies

      • Using the BCD format designation for Book on CD is good as it shows a difference from regular CDs which are usually music; also the name of the person about whom the biography is written is the correct designation.  If you want to add the 1st three letters of the author's name as a 4th line, that is also acceptable. 

        Go to the LifeWay website (click on the LifeWay box in the right-hand column on this page) and purchase the resource Church Library Ministry Information Services.  You can download immediately after purchasing and print as needed.  It will answer many questions about classifying and processing all types of media.

        Main thing to remember:  all types of media should be classified using the Dewey Decimal System, and use format indicators (BCD, DVD, CD, etc.) and age group indicators to determine where they will reside in the library!

  • Linda:

    As Eve Nell said the first line of the call number is designated for the type of media (except for books).  In this case CD.

    My call number would be:

    CD      for type of media

    B        for biography

    Mul     for first three letters of who the biography is about

    This is what I do for all the cds I classify.

    Carol

    • Thank you, Carol.  I just wanted to be prepared as we bring in more CDs. Now I've ben doing a lot of thinking about DVDs! Fiction/Non-fiction ..... Drama/Documetary . .. .. and so on. I've seen both ways.

      It's always good to know what has consistently worked for others, so thanks for sharing.  

  • Hi Lisa ~ I'm really new too to our church library as of last year. Except long time ago toward the beginning of our church, I was church librarian. But it has changed some.  So please take my newness into account as I reply here. I'm not nearly experienced as many people here. 

     

    I'm curious what does your "E" & "P" stand for?

     

    My primary focus is from infancy thru age 17 as the Head Librarian focuses on the Adults & her other responsibilities. She pretty much leaves it up to me to organize things, although at times we lovingly disagree!

    Child Collection: Ages Infancy thru 7 years    "C"

    Junior Collection: Ages 8 thru 12 years . . . . .some name this as Juvenile      "J"

    Youth Collection: Ages 13 thru 17 years          "Y"

    Adult: 18+     Does not get a particular letter signifying adult.  

     

    We just formed a Family Collection which is audiovisual in nature.    

     -------------------------------------------

     

    These collections were all labeled and organized a  "J" for Junior or Juvenile. I've been sorting thru and labeling each book. I still have some more sorting to do, but there is a light to the end of the tunnel. We truly have a small library collection, but some really good reading.

     

    My husband & I are donating so much per month at this time so as to build upon what is already there. I know that the adult section keeps getting donated books quite regularly, which is wonderful to see the interest in our library.  But the Kids' Collections need some extra guidance right now and thus the reason I'm assisting. So I've been doing a lot of thinking & reading about how to assess what books should go into the 3 Collections (Child, Junior, & Youth).  

    This is what I've come up with:  

    Child Collection: Board books to Easy/Early Readers. I want both the child to enjoy books for themselves as well as good books for an older person to read to a child.

     

    Junior Collection: Early chapter books with lots of pictures to longer chapter books with fewer pictures. For the younger elementary students up thru 6th graders. This I focus on what the child can read for themselves. Not all books are chapter books per se, but this is a general rule of thumb for me. We have craft books & cook books for instance.  

     

    Youth Collection: Hope to have more variety here. This collection is really quite sad at the moment, but as I replace yellowed books & missing parts of series, it will brighten up. I'm excited to develop this section as I bring in new material as well.  Just ordered a set of biographies! Lots of work to do with this section. I believe adults will read out of this section as well by the time we have more to choose from. This collection is kept close to the Adult section. I noticed some youth reading from the Adult section too. It helps me to think of Middle School & High School as I've been researching possible additions to this section.   

          

    Is this what you were asking about, or are you wondering about something more specific?    

     

     

     

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    • Thank you so much. That's reassuring to hear! I just didn't want to get myself in a bind - so to speak. I definitely plan to stick with the BCD classification along with continuing with "B" for Biography.  We're shuffling things around since our church move into a different building. Along with that, I'm going item by item (Child, Junior & Youth Collections) to bring consistency to our labeling. I've been on a sharp learning curve these last months.    

       

       

      • Linda - Can you define the parameters of your Child, Junior and Youth collections? I recently began working in my church library and our children's books are cataloged as E / P / or J and there does not seem to be a distinction between the E and P and a slight distinction in the J collection.

This reply was deleted.