The Ghostly Call Number...

Sometimes when call numbers become faded, or when the book has been checked out many times, the call number label on the spine starts to fade or rub off.  It took about 6 weeks to figure this out for this poor book, but we found it and gave it a new label.

The book was Tar Heel Ghosts by John Harden with the assigned call number of GR110.N8 H3.  This poor book was located in the QR section because the label had begun to rub off.

This is just another example of thinking how a letter or number can appear like another and checking in that location.  Sadly it took our team 6 weeks to find it, but it happens sometimes.  Luckily, the patron was pleased we located and promptly came by to check it out.

The Miss-shelving Book Hider

Recently, while searching, I have encountered on several occasions books from 2 or 3 rows over crammed at the end of a shelf of books.  Also, on a shelf where the book end was slipping and some of the books leaning over, someone decided to cram a book (again 2 rows off where it should have been) in the little gap between the remaining upright books and the leaning ones. 

I’m unsure of who is doing this other than it is good practice for everyone who searches for missing items to occasionally look at the end of every shelf on every row as well as browse the books you pass by as you walk down the row.  Recently, I have found several miss-shelved items this way and on the rare occasion one that I had been looking for several months.  The most recent subjects this seems to be a reoccurring theme are all the G-GV’s, N’s, PN’s, PR , and PS.

Keep your eyes peeled and look out for books on the end of the shelves as well as the random miss-shelved ones in the middle of the shelf.

Happy Searching! J

The Next Shelf Over

Frequently books are found on a shelf above, below, to the left, or the right of where it ought to be.  These books sometimes are shelved right by the cutter, but wrong by the number and the call number initial letter.

Such is the case for the books listed below:

PN2286 .B67 1986 shelved as PN2287 .B67 1986 right next to a PN2287 .B6

GT4965 .G35 2002 shelved as GT4935 .G35 2002 right next to a GT4935 .G53 (oddly enough).

Happy Searching!