Hunting For Books @ Borders

I'm sure that anyone out there who enjoys books makes it a point to step into the many Borders Books & Music around the world. I've personally been to several Borders stores around the US. I have to say, I'm impressed by the standardisation of all the designs, layout and bookshelves in each and every one of the stores, even the smell of the store is the same throughout the world, trust me on this, I do remember the smell! However, there is one fatal flaw in all the stores, and that's in the way they shelf their books.

I can almost NEVER be absolutely sure which category the book I'm looking for is shelved in when I visit Borders. I know that different bookstores will have their own little categorisation and methods in which to shelf their books. However, the way the book is classified is sometimes determined by the author, it is mostly found in the copyright page (the first few pages) of the book, under which category it belongs to, and thus where it should be shelved. I also know for a fact that Borders gives their own categories and completely ignores this, even the ISBN number of the books have been pasted over with the Borders price tag and separate barcode.

Take for example, Anne Rice, her books are mostly about Vampires, in other bookstores, her books are shelved under Horror. If I go to the Horror section in Borders, oh wait, there's no Horror section in Borders. Anne Rice has been shelved under General Fiction. Another example is Gregory David Robert's autobiography Shantaram is found under Biographies/Literature in some other bookstore, but shelved under General Fiction. So, General Fiction is like a dumping ground for books that can't seem to be categorised, or at least, where the category simply doesn't exist in Borders.

Tell me, how does one go to find the book then? I can almost hear you all shouting to me,"Go ask the sale staff and do a computer search!; Or use the Borders data terminal to do a book search!" Ah... but that's precisely what I did. That brings me to how Borders categories confuse even their staff!

I asked the staff to search for a book, Jeff Lindsay's Dexter In The Dark. They say there're 2 copies left and bring me to the section, under Mysteries. Lo and behold, the book's not there, but the computer says it's there and there are 2 copies somewhere in the store. Are we going to get all the Borders staff to drop everything and search all the shelves for the book I want? No, the staff apologises nicely, and tells me that sometimes not all the books are on the shelves where they're suppose to. I thank the sales staff for her help and walk around. I later find the book under New Fiction, and it turns out the book wasn't a hardcover, it was a large tradepaperback edition.

I also have to bear in mind that Borders has this policy to let customers read books, so not all books are always put back where they need to be placed. So when the next person comes looking for the book, be it sales staff or customer, they might not find it.

I won't fault different bookstores for their flaws in shelving their books, however I do believe a new system should be put in place. Perhaps if they number their bookshelves in the stores, it will be easier to find books even in their computer system. If it says shelf B3 or something, then the book has to be on shelf B3. However, it might not always work with books not being placed back in their proper shelves.

This is a losing game, to make a bookstore as efficient as possible when looking for books, you might have to turn them all into how libraries shelf their books and tada, bookstores and libraries will be one and the same. Then again, a library is not much different from Borders, the only difference is that if you want the book at Borders, you have to buy it.