News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena County Library Librarian Tina Markowski puts a colored tag on a book at the library on Tuesday. The library is transitioning from the Dewey Decimal System to the new Browse Method. The move helps to guide people visiting the library to books in certain topic groups.

ALPENA — The Alpena County Library is in the process of changing how it categorizes books with hopes it will reduce the chance of minors stumbling upon books that some people in the area say contain sexually explicit material.

The change in how the books are presented means the books in question, like “Let’s Talk About It,” “It’s Perfectly Normal,” and several others, will remain in the adolescent and teen sections where they are currently but will be marked to display their subgenre.

In a press release on Monday, the library said it is moving away from the Dewey Decimal System and transitioning to the Browse Method, which classifies books into nine different categories. The method was created to make finding books on specific topics, such as history, science, entertainment, arts and literature, and others, simpler.

Topics of books that fall under these categories and their subcategories will be readily marked for people to find, similar to bookstores, the library said in its press release.

Books about human anatomy and body systems would be cataloged under Science: Biology; Anatomy and Physiology, while titles about sexuality, bodily autonomy, and other sexual education topics would be cataloged under Body, Health, and Mind: Family Life; Sex Education.

Assistant Library Director Jessica Luther said in the press release that the move should help guide younger readers and their parents directly to topics they are interested in and limit the chance someone inadvertently comes across one of the books that has stirred controversy in Alpena for about two years.

She said the idea of implementing a different system has been considered for several years, but the library wanted to explore other options before making a decision. Luther said the plan to transition to the Browse Method really amped up late this past winter and into the spring.

Now, Luther said, staff are busy making the changes to how the books are classified, labeled, and located, but with over 4,000 books in the juvenile nonfiction section, it will take time to complete. She said once that section is complete, staff will begin the same process in the teen and young adult sections.

“It is a huge undertaking, but with everything that is happening with the books and wanting to meet people in the middle and address concerns, we felt this should be a priority,” Luther said. “Our youth team is already working on the transition.”

Luther said each book in those sections must be pulled and classified into one of the primary categories and then each category is represented on a book with a color tag. She said that all of the call numbers need to be changed and shelving will need to be rearranged because not all of the books in place now will be shelved with the same ones they are now.

“There are a lot of moving pieces,” she said.

The Alpena County Commissioners became involved when critics of the books and their locations in the library asked the county for help to get the books moved to what they thought would be a more age-appropriate section. Many of the commissioners were in favor of having the library board move the books, but library officials said that would censor free speech.

Commissioner Burt Francisco said he believes the change in categorizing the books is a good move because it makes the books more identifiable for parents. But, he said, he still has concerns that a minor can check the books out if they come into the library without an adult.

“Maybe this opens up the door for more dialog and more compromise,” Francisco said. “It gives me optimism that maybe we can reach a mutual agreement. I’m a little more at ease, but I’m still concerned about some 12-year-old being able to check these out, but I think we are closer to an agreeable position.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.