shelfwork

English

Noun

shelfwork (countable and uncountable, plural shelfworks)

1. (architecture) A built-in shelf or set of shelves.
   • 1976, Chanoyu - Issue 15, page 16:

     There are various kinds of shelfwork in Japanese architecture and the tsuridana, suspended shelf, is the form most commonly seen in tea architecture and is generally suspended at the front part of the mat where the host prepares tea in order that it may be used to set utensils on.

   • 1983, Robert M. Hodnett, Automatic Sprinkler Systems Handbook, page 184:

     Adjacent shelfwork is considered an extension of the obstruction.

   • 1990, Eugene Clute, Kenneth Reid, Russell Fenimore Whitehead, Progressive Architecture - Volume 71:

     The front of the piece is open shelfwork.

2. A system of classification, especially one that determines how something can be organized on shelves.
   • 1858, Peter Kaufmann, The Temple of Truth: Or the Science of Ever-progressive Knowledge:

     The outward form of such system, is a grand classification of all things; whose details consist in the realization that simple, yet nevertheless wonderful shelfwork (or categories), innately but undevelopedly inherent in the human mind, whereby ALL MEN of normal parts, are enabled, by a proper course of culture, to become knowing, wise, and useful for themselves and others.

   • 2002, Mark St. George, A Feast of Savages, →ISBN, page 25:

     Turkoman made good use of his time, and I was sure whatever he knew of Dr. Lyman Kiser's affairs was neatly stashed somewhere in his mental shelfwork.

3. Items such as brochures that are displayed on and used from a shelf.
   • 1987, Newsletter, page 192:

     This "shelfwork" includes manipulatives for students to use in order to review or reinforce skills taught in math, language arts, social studies and science.

   • 2011, Joan Gibbons, Art and Advertising, →ISBN:

     As with several other shelfworks, the title echoes the clichéd language of sales brochures that tends to present their products in the superlative.

   • 2017, Jennifer Johnson, Using Shelfwork at Linguistic Levels of Vocabulary, Syntax and Discourse to Support Language Development Amongst ELL Students:

     This action research examines the benefits of using shelfwork with academic language supports and documents how Montessori materials and methods support students to use academic language in their writing.