Browsing at Firestone

Firestone Library users received the welcome news that the Richardson system for classifying books is on the way out (Campus Notebook, Nov. 17). The Richardson system is an inconvenience to users and probably an equal inconvenience to the staff. As the article said, Richardson deserves credit for having been a pioneer in the classification of library books, but the system’s time clearly has passed.

Even more welcome news was ­University Librarian Karin Trainer’s acknowledgement of the importance
of browsing in the book stacks. The organization of materials in libraries is not perfect, nor can it be. Browsing remains a highly useful tool for using library materials. Within the past few years I have made several “discoveries” at Firestone that greatly facilitated several research projects of mine. I have had similar experiences at various units of the Rutgers University Libraries.