I sympathize with the original sentiment, actually. “Convenient for librarians/library staff” tends not to be one of my highest priorities, for good or ill. However, convenient and sensible overlap fairly often, and I’ve learned to listen to “it would be convenient if…” conversations with that in mind.

It might be that a quick analytical study (a clock, a handful of people, and some books) would reveal that most people (in that community) can shelve and browse non-labelled books just as quickly and it’s just a handful of grumps like me who get neck strains. It’d be nice to know if we’re making hamburgers out of a sacred cow or practical old Bessie.

Actually, both responses are good. I’d be delighted to use them, although the next Feedback section won’t appear for a couple of months. Just let me know.

(I shelved books for some years as well–but it was at UC Berkeley’s main library, so it was call numbers all the way.)

Label text is at roughly the same height on each book, is the same size font for the most part, and is oriented horizontally. It’s faster and easier to read and sort. In bookstores, which don’t use such labels, I often end up with a crick in my neck from unconsciously rotating my head to the side as I read the text on the spines.

In addition, a small side benefit is that those labels help out visually impaired folks because they are high-contrast in an easy-to-read font, unlike the graphic design work on some book spines.

Hope you’re having a good summer!