The document discusses the reclassification of library collections at Aberystwyth University from multiple classification schemes to a single scheme, Library of Congress. This was done to consolidate collections after institutional mergers and make materials easier to share. It describes the process of reclassifying over 30,000 titles while minimizing disruption, keeping staff and patrons informed, and weeding outdated materials. The reclassification was completed ahead of schedule in December 2011.

1. All change please!
The end of the line for UDC and Dewey at Aberystwyth
University
Dorothy Hartley
Bibliographic Services Teamleader
Aberystwyth University

2. Thomas Parry Library

3. Why did we have all these schemes in use?
Merger of institutions
• Library of Welsh Agricultural College (WAC)
classified by Universal Decimal Classification.
• Coleg Ceredigion and College of Librarianship
Wales classified by Dewey Decimal
Classification.
• UCW Departmental agriculture library
classified by Library of Congress.

4. Initial plan : UDC to Dewey
• Reclassify UDC material to Dewey to alleviate
confusion about shelf order.
• Classify in more detail those sections which had
grown beyond WAC’s initial expectations e.g. 636.1
Horses.
• Eventually the Library of Congress sequence would
be weeded and re-classified too.
• Carried out a classification mapping exercise and
began some work.

5. What made us change the plan?
• Merger of Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research,
Gogerddan (IGER) with University Institutes of biological and
rural sciences in 2007.
• Strategy to bring all these departments together in one
location.
It became very clear to us that we needed to use the same
classification scheme in all the libraries so that books could be
easily transferred from library to library as required.

6. A few figures
Stapledon library
9500 books to be catalogued in house onto LMS
and reclassified (from UDC) to Library of Congress.
Thomas Parry Library
38000 titles in the main Dewey/UDC bookstock
Time scale initially uncertain.
Work began in April 2008 Target end date Summer
2012

7. Issues in Stapledon library
• Highly specialised subject matter including foreign
language material – original classification needed
for approx. 30% of items
• Currency and accuracy of found classification
numbers – we wanted to maintain consistency so
checked for currency on Classificationweb.
• Stock duplication between the three locations.
Use the same number or assign a current one
instead?

8. Issues in the Thomas Parry library
• Library in constant use
• Need to minimise disruption for library users
• Weeding desperately needed
• Need to implement a rolling program to keep
books out of circulation for the least possible
time.

9. Keeping people informed
• Subject team liaised with academic
departments
• Announced in library newsletter and university
email lists
• LOC outline posters and pocket guides
• Clear signage maintained
• Talk to undergraduate librarianship class using
the project as a case study for their course.

10. Keeping staff on-side
Monthly meetings
• to involve staff in all of the teams teams
affected
• to keep staff informed about the method of
working and how the work was progressing.
• to identify problems and resolve them.

11. How did we work?
• Books removed from the shelves in small
batches.
• Class numbers used elsewhere in the AU
libraries used where possible or from 050 field
or CIP in books.
• Class numbers obtained directly from Library of
Congress catalogue / OCLC (and bibliographic
records for Gogerddan).

12. How did we work (2)
• New scheme code and class number entered on Voyager.
• New label printed and affixed.
• Books re-shelved in new sequence.
• If not all copies of a title are available on the shelf those
copies not found needed to be kept on a MFHD with a
the Dewey classmark until returned/found.
• Any items not found would be known to be missing and
removed from the OPAC at the end of the project.

13. Weeding
Initially subject librarians wanted to do this themselves and
some were able to work ahead of the reclassification team.
If no class number could be found, subject specialists were
asked to review items the cataloguers felt were outdated or
ephemeral.
Lists obtained from the LMS of items with no circulation
history for previous 6 years.
Picked off items in use and worked on those leaving the rest
behind for relegation or withdrawal.

14. Staff resources
Stapledon Library cataloguing
2.5 FTE Bib Services team fitting it around work on new acquisitions +
150 hours from 2 Polish volunteers during first 2 months + 50
hours casual help
Thomas Parry reclassification
Staffing averaged out at about 1 FTE but the work was shared by a
team of 4.
And a HUGE effort from the Collection Management
team

15. Benefits of reclassifying in-house
• Flexibility
• Gave more time and opportunity for subject team
and academic staff to provide input.
• Easier way of dealing with highly specialised
collections.
• Enhanced team-working within and between
teams.
• Work retained in the local area.

16. Job done!
Reclassification completed ahead of schedule
in December 2011.
Stapledon Library : Priority task June 2008-Feb 2009 (9500
titles)
Thomas Parry library : Priority task February 2009-December
2011 (27000 titles reclassified from the initial estimate of 38000)
Output averaged 1000 titles a month