Death of Dewey?

This just in (okay, not really... this article was published in July):

According to a post on The Chronicle of Higher Education, there are a select few public libraries in Arizona forgoing the traditional Dewey Decimal system. And while the comments are littered with several librarians whose reactions might suggest that such a move is blasphemy, there are a few points in support of it.

The article argues from an academic standpoint, which is understandable when considering the source, but the libraries in question are public libraries. Personally, I think it might be a good move, depending on the patrons. One of the comments suggested that better library instruction is called for, not an overhaul of the entire classification system. That is just plain silly. Anyone familiar with CISSL or the campaign for school libraries led by names like Carol Kuhlthau and Ross Todd would know that we are already attempting better instruction. Despite our best efforts, children are still not grasping Dewey. How can they when dogs are separated from other animals? Kids don't strategize their searches thinking, hmmm... I bet dogs would be located under applied technology because they are domesticated. And raising pets is probably referred to as animal husbandry. Yeah, that's the ticket... Not!

There is a growing body of academic research pertaining to children and their understanding of categorization. (Trust me, I had to read pretty much all of it for a paper last semester. If you're interested, here is a large portion of my bibliography. Knock yourselves out). Liz Cooper's findings were especially interesting in light of this article, because when children were asked to come up with categories for their own libraries, they came up with suggestions rather similar to those found at a store like Barnes and Noble. So, perhaps it is the library that needs to change, since children's cognition and understanding is a tad harder to mold.