Oakland Public Library’s Dewey Pictograms

From the California State Library Connection Newsletter (Spring 2007, issue 45):

Oakland Public Library customers have an alternative way of searching Oakland’s stacks – pictograms, reproducible colored images portraying collections within the Dewey Decimal Classification System, a scheme that can intimidate people who do not read well…

For people with learning disabilities, who make up 17 to 20% of the general population, pictograms not only help them navigate the Dewey Decimal System, the images also change the way these library customers view, and use, their local library. An excellent example of universal access, pictograms also make using the library easier for non-native speakers and adult learners…

… Interested parties can view and download the pictograms for the Oakland project from the California Library Literacy Services website at http://www.libraryliteracy.org/.

Read the full article here.