By that I mean, should the Bible, Koran, Torah, Book of Mormon, et al be shelved on the top shelves of library book stacks?  Leave it to the Brits to come up with the most insane library policy I’ve ever heard about.

The Museum, Libraries and Archives Council issued a guidance which suggested placing all “holy books” on the top shelves after a Muslim group complained that the Koran was often found on the bottom shelves of libraries (what, they did a survey?).  Works about Islam are cataloged by the Dewey classification system in 297 which puts it at the end of the 200s (religion) but that doesn’t mean they’re always on the bottom shelves.  That depends on how many materials fit on a shelf, how many shelves per unit, etc.

If all “holy books” are on the top shelves, how are people shorter that 5′7″ supposed to reach them?What does someone do after searching the catalog and finding the Good News Bible catalog number 220.5?  She goes to the shelves and it’s not with the other 220s.  Is there a neon sign pointing the way to salvation?  Many libraries without space problems (all 34 of them) do not use the bottom and/or top shelves as a way of accommodating short people and/or those who cannot bend down without pain.

According to Muslims there is no greater book than the Koran because it is the word of “God.”  As are all the other “holy books.”  Some Muslims want the Koran placed higher than all other books!  Placing them all together on the top shelves flies in the face of logical library order.  Libraries, great places as they are, are not places of worship.  If they were, I’d demand that Shakespeare have a separate room all to himself. 

It is also very troubling that the views of one group determine how a library will operate.  That flies in the face of the principles of librarianship.  Such insidious decisions based on supposed respect for others weasel their way into libraries at their peril.