h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Fourteen or fifteen years ago, when I still worked in a library, we got a new boss who liked to change things around so the staff would have plenty of projects.

The rfiction section had authros beginning with "A" at the entrance, going back through the alphabet as you went further in. , Y, ad Z were against the back wall. This was crazy, she said, so she reversed the order, putting X Y and Z near the entrance and the beginning of the alphabet along the back wall.

I just dropped in yesterday and found that a new director who started less than a month ago had put things back the way they were fifteen years ago.

Because of the growing popularity of ebooks and online information, the library has fewer books overall, and the ones it still has will mostly fit on the main floor where the building's ramp makes them accessible to people in wheelchairs. The bottom floor has an auditorium which became half full of books at one time. Now it doesn't need to hold so many books, or any at all, so it's going to revert back to being a place for programs.

The grand piano which the earlier director had no use for got stuck in a closet somewhere, but now it may be refurbished and brought back into the auditorium for musical programs.

Sounds like an improvement.

Except for the 'fewer books' business.

I've always been for more books, myself, but the library is part of a network with six million holdings in all. Anyone can request anything and have it brought to the most convenient library for pickup. Usually it takes about three days.

Dropped in and got a library card at the new library in Rancho Mirage, CA a few weeks back, needed to use their computer system to get a fast print of a legal document I needed.

A completely new library, their organization is similar to that paulh describes.