Wait, do I get the anthro-wolves for letting you use the shelf list or for not letting you?
It is indeed possible to use a shelf list as a catalog, but requires considerable skill. In essence, it is a sort of classified catalog, a concept familiar in Europe but rarely seen over here. To use it that way, you have to already know the Dewey Decimal System (or whatever other system is in use) fairly well. And in fact, if you know that, you probably don't need the catalog much anyway, except to find out if a book should be on the shelf or is checked out (something the shelf list will not tell you.)
The main use of a shelf list is inventory. You can carry a drawer to the actual shelf and match books to cards individually, finding out what is missing and requires further investigation. In theory the computer could provide a similar feature but in practice it never does. The complexities of actual shelf arrangements seem to flummox the programmers too badly.
no subject
It is indeed possible to use a shelf list as a catalog, but requires considerable skill. In essence, it is a sort of classified catalog, a concept familiar in Europe but rarely seen over here. To use it that way, you have to already know the Dewey Decimal System (or whatever other system is in use) fairly well. And in fact, if you know that, you probably don't need the catalog much anyway, except to find out if a book should be on the shelf or is checked out (something the shelf list will not tell you.)
The main use of a shelf list is inventory. You can carry a drawer to the actual shelf and match books to cards individually, finding out what is missing and requires further investigation. In theory the computer could provide a similar feature but in practice it never does. The complexities of actual shelf arrangements seem to flummox the programmers too badly.