What are the different sections of a library and how do they work?

This depends on the type of library. Public libraries will have children’s and teen services but an
academic library probably won’t. The typical library has the following departments/spaces:

Circulation — common to most library types, this department manages the collection. Circulation
maintains the shelves and checks out and checks in the materials. This is usually the first place a patron
sees.

Reference — common to all library types. Reference Services is the research and information
department. This department answers questions and assists patrons with research materials and
strategies. Reference skills and tools are used in multiple public service departments. All public service
areas provide reference services, but the most comprehensive information provision will come from the
Reference desk.

Serials — common to most library types. Serials manages all aspects of serial publications (magazines,
scholarly journals, etc). Their public space will be the magazine area.

Cataloging — common to all library types but becoming obsolete. This department is responsible for
deciding where in the collection to put the material. Cataloging assigns the call number to books. This
is not a public area.

Acquisitions — common to all library types. This department purchases materials and is often
combined with cataloging or serials since the workflow is compatible with both. This is not a public
area.

Tech/Computer Services — Common to everything. The library’s IT department. Also not a public
space.

Administration — Common to larger libraries of any type. Somebody has to run things. This is where
the director and the financial manager and the rest of the power structure resides. This space is
accessible to the public if the Director is available.

Children’s Services — Common to public libraries. This department provides all-things children. They
do collection development, provide programming, reference services, reader’s advisory for children
from birth thru middle school. Big job! This is usually a separate room and it will include storytime
spaces as well as areas for crafts and performances.

Teen Services — Common to public libraries. This department does what children’s services does —
only for middle thru high schoolers. Reference services and programming are very important and the
collections often support not just the reading needs of teens, but also their research needs. More and
more, Teen Services will have a separate space with their own meeting/study rooms and
crafting/gaming area.

Outreach Services — Found mostly in public libraries, outreach services can be as simple as a single
bookmobile or as extensive as taking library collections and services to daycare centers, senior
 centers/assisted living/nursing homes. Usually not a public area in the building, but this department is
where the bookmobile and the bookmobile collection(s) lives (if your library has one).

Archives — not every library maintains an archive, but as genealogy and local history becomes more
and more important, more and more libraries are finding that they need to make space for archival
collections. These collections can include books that might live in a public area as well as photos,
objects, art, furniture, scrapbooks, documents, rare titles, etc., that will live in a climate controlled back-
of-the-house environment.

Most libraries have one or more areas devoted to public computing where PCs are provided, along with
plugs for those who have their own mobile devices that might need a charge. They will also probably
have designated spaces for books (fiction and non-fiction separated), AV materials, and magazines.
Some libraries may have a “Maker Space” where patrons can 3D print or make Arduinos — or whatever
is popular in the community. Modern libraries also have study rooms, quiet rooms, meeting rooms,
auditoriums and outdoor hangout spaces.

Library sections

 Acquisition Section. Selects, purchases, accessions and processes payments of all library materials.
 Cataloging Section. ...
 Circulation Section. ...
 Periodicals and Reference Section. ...
 Services: ...
 Filipiniana Section. ...
 Archives and Rare Books Collection. ...
 Graduate Library.

Dewey Decimal Classification, also called Dewey Decimal System, system for organizing the
contents of a library based on the division of all knowledge into 10 groups, with each group assigned
100 numbers. The 10 main groups are: 000–099, general works; 100–199, philosophy and psychology;
200–299, religion; 300–399, social sciences; 400–499, language; 500–599, natural sciences and
mathematics; 600–699, technology; 700–799, the arts; 800–899, literature and rhetoric; and 900–999,
history, biography, and geography. These 10 main groups are in turn subdivided again and again to
provide more specific subject groups. Within each main group the principal subseries are divided by
10; e.g., the history of Europe is placed in the 940s. Further subdivisions eventually extend into decimal
numbers; e.g., the history of England is placed under 942, the history of the Stuart period at 942.06,
and the history of the English Commonwealth at 942.063.
Based on W.T. Harris’ classification for the St. Louis Public Library, the Dewey system was first
formulated by the American librarian Melvil Dewey in 1873 for application in the Amherst
CollegeLibrary. It was first published in 1876, and the 20th edition of the system had been published
by the late 20th century.
The Dewey system’s numerical classification provides a shorthand identification and location tool. The
notation lends itself to memory through the constant repetition of a standard pattern (area arrangement,
different numbers for particular languages), through parallel subject developments (each book of the
Bible given the same development as the Bible as a whole), and through patterned repetition of
standard subdivisions (theory, study and teaching, history, geography, etc.). To distinguish works within
a group and to expedite retrieval, many libraries add a book number created from the Cutter, or Cutter-
Sanborn, Tables, which provide further specifications for author and genre.
Because an abridged as well as a full schedule (or classificatory guide) of the system has been
developed, the Dewey Decimal Classification is adaptable to libraries of various sizes. The Index to the
Dewey Decimal systems, a relative one (i.e., one having cross-references), arranges all topics
expressed or implied, with every synonym in alphabetical order.

The names Dewey Decimal Classification and Dewey (when referring to the former) are trademarks of
the OCLC Online Computer Library Center.