Who Gets to Decide What the Place Is For?

The Deschutes Public Library system in central Oregon decided the Dewey Decimal System had run its course. The county reorganized every branch around how people think when they walk in looking for something, grouping by topic and interest. The numbering scheme it replaced was first published in 1876. Emily O'Neal, the technical services manager who helped build the replacement, put the problem plainly: the library kept a system only librarians knew. A $195 million bond in 2020 rebuilt the branches, which gave staff the opening to rethink the shelving itself, and the whole system reshelved in 2023. They named the replacement Wayfinder, a wonderful name for a thing whose entire job is helping you find your way. The new central branch sits at Stevens Ranch in Bend.A shelving decision carries an argument inside it. The argument here goes something like this: the room belongs to the people who walk into it.When an institution asks how real people move through a space, it starts behaving…