None of which (as you note) has anything to do with ‘the’, as books are (almost) never shelved by title. But the whole point of The Dinette Set is that they are incredibly stupid and hypocritical. Why I read it, I don’t know…

When I got to the References, though, I was slightly disappointed that none of the entries had multiple authors. I was curious whether her good sense would extend to keeping second (and later) authors’ names un-inverted. The only point to inverting the name is so the string you’re alphabetizing on will come first. (I suppose you could argue that the sorting might extend to the second name if a given author is cited multiple times with different co-authors. But if there’s that much going on, some sort of citation-key system is called for.)

The The Problem is a very real problem in indexing. Glenda Browne, the author of the linked article, is the foremost authority on The The Problem and is known informally as The The Woman.

Books and other materials in foreign languages often end up in inconsistent places in libraries. You’ll find Stravinsky’s opera “The Rake’s Progress” under R but Wagner’s opera “Die Walkure” could turn up under D or W. Look under X for “Xcerpts from La Boheme”.

Note that the two staff members are “Doe” and “Tick” — perhaps I just noticed that because my daughter’s being treated for Lyme disease (spread by deer ticks).

Also, since this site tends to attract grammar nazis, I wonder when somebody is going to point out the phrase “there’s a lot” (instead of “there are a lot”). I’m a grammar nazi myself, but for some reason I don’t have that particular pet peeve, and in fact I often deliberately use “there’s” for both singular and plural. Maybe that’s just my inner iconoclast.

BTW, I have to wonder if this comic’s artist is ever going to learn that cramming as much as you can into one panel is not a good idea. I always find it so hard to read…

- Kef

In the Dewey system, fiction is ordered by the writer’s surname (or the editor’s surname or publisher’s name, in case of anthologies) and non-fiction numerically, with the first three letters of the writer’s or editor’s surname at the end of the number. In some libraries biographies or autobiographies are categorized under the 900s, while in others they’re separated out and classified under the subject’s name.

The only place “the” comes into play is in the library “card” catalogue, but none of these people seem to be using one either online or otherwise.

A bookstore is not a library.

@Me, there was the same complaint with the first iterations of iTunes. I therefore have “misnamed” albums like “Beatles, The”. Later versions ignore “The” during sorting.