I don't have an MLS yet, but I can tell you that we started to catalog our new JCC library using LC because the librarian we hired came from a university setting. People who tried to find things on the shelves had trouble; fiction is especially tricky for patrons used to searching alphabetically by author. Our new librarian has decided to use Elazar instead.
I think the question you have to ask is, "Who are your patrons?" If they are scholars doing research at a college-level or above, then LC will be helpful with their interlibrary work. But if they are adult and child congregants who want to learn more about Judaism and read some Jewish books for pleasure (not that serious study isn't fun), then they are more likely to continue a book search in a public library, which probably uses Dewey. In any case, they can search elsewhere using the title, author, or subject headings. You could even post a chart (if it exists) that gives the equivalent listings in LC and Elazar. (I'm still using Dewey at my small day school library although I'm keeping Judaica separate from everything else; we only recently decided to add non-Judaica to the library. I like Dewey because, like your committee member, I want students to be able to use the public library easily.) Rose Myers JCC Community Library Bridgeport, CT and Edith Scheinberg Library Hillel Academy Fairfield, CT Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
