Classification in the University Library



Classification in the University Library

Dewey

• The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) scheme was conceived by Melvil Dewey (American, 1851-1931) in 1873 and first published in 1876.

• It is a general knowledge organisation tool, and it is revised continuously to reflect the current state of knowledge, redefined geographical areas, new historical periods etc. Sometimes whole sections get a major overhaul: these are known as ‘phoenix schedules’. Printed editions appear around every 7 years, and the most recent edition is DDC23 (2011). The electronic version is updated frequently.

• The scheme divides the entire world of knowledge into 10 main classes, each subdivided into 10 divisions, each further subdivided into 10 sections. For summaries of the classes, divisions and sections, see DDC23 Vol. 2, pp. v-xvi.

• A DC class number must have at least three digits. The first digit represents the main class; the second digit represents the division; the third digit represents the section.

• If three digits are not enough to represent the subject, there follows a decimal point and then the number continues to be divided by ten until the specific subject is represented. A number following the decimal point must never end in 0.

• Subjects may appear in several places in the schedules, e.g. ‘food’ appears under home economics, customs, nutrition, product safety, biotechnology etc.

• For complex subjects which cross several class numbers, see DDC23 Vol. 1, pp. xlviii-li.

• Where indicated in the schedules, numbers can be built up by adding from other areas of the schedules, e.g. production economics.

• Vol. 1 of DDC23 contains 6 tables which also enable number building. Notation from Table 1 (Standard subdivisions, to indicate concepts such as dictionaries, biographies, research) can be applied to any base number unless the schedules indicate to the contrary. Notation from the other tables can only be used where indicated in the schedules.

• Dewey sometimes allows options to enable libraries to emphasise one aspect of a subject over another, e.g. the management of hotels could be expressed as 647.94068 or 658.9164794 (note mnemonic use of numbers).

• There are some strange anomalies in Dewey which reflect the state of knowledge at the time when the scheme was invented, e.g. psychology appearing in the middle of philosophy.

Analysing the subject content of the item

Use the following sources of help:

• The main title may provide a strong clue, but it may be misleading, e.g. ‘What color is your parachute?’

• The subtitle is often more useful than the main title for explaining the subject matter, e.g. in the above example the subtitle is ‘a practical manual for job-hunters and career-changers’.

• The table of contents.

• A preface or introduction.

• The text itself.

• Publisher’s information on the back of the book or on the dust jacket.

• Subject headings in catalogue records from reputable sources.

• Faculty Librarians, if the subject is completely impenetrable – they have more specialised knowledge.

Choosing a class number

Use the following sources of help:

• Experience! You will soon gain expertise in the subject areas assigned to you, and learn where your subject areas overlap with those of the other cataloguers. Certain subjects are perennial, and you will notice new ones cropping up from time to time as the content of courses changes.

• Simple search in Prism, which will show you where similar works have been classified in the past. Most fields in a catalogue record are indexed for Prism, including Library of Congress Subject Headings and notes fields, which may be useful for subject content in addition to the title field. You may prefer to search in Alto instead, which allows you to sort results by class number – beware, though, of picking up out-dated class numbers for items which have been withdrawn, now that we do not need to suppress ‘last copies’.

• Author search in Prism or Alto. If we already stock related works by the same author, see where we classified it before. In areas such as literature or the fine arts, this is an obvious short cut.

• Read the text on the back of the book or in the introduction, for references to related works which we may have in stock, and from which you may be able to take the class number, e.g. a book may be referred to as ‘a companion to’ another title, or it may be a revised edition under a new title of a work we already have in stock.

• Our in-house alphabetical subject index (Alto/Cataloguing/Subject Index), which reflects our own use of Dewey numbers. When a class number is used for the first time, we enter it on the subject index, with chain-indexed terms (most specific term first, in contrast to the construction of the class number, where the most specific element is usually at the end of the number). This is updated in real time.

• Our in-house reverse subject index, in class number order, which is accessible on the K drive (K:\Central\Library\Team areas\Procurement and Metadata\Metadata\Cataloguing and classification\Subject index in classified order). The Systems Librarian updates this at the beginning of every month. This is useful if you know the general area of classification, but need to browse round it.

• Class number provided by suppliers of catalogue records, e.g. British Library or Library of Congress. This can appear on the back of the title page, or on the catalogue record. You can look at all the different versions of a record by doing a bibliographic search of TalisBase using the ‘all’ option, and see where each organisation has classified the work. However, class numbers should not be taken straight from such sources without comparing with our current local usage of Dewey, e.g. there may be discrepancies between different editions of Dewey.

• Search Library Hub Discover (), a freely available catalogue comprising the merged online catalogues of many UK and Irish academic and national libraries and some specialist libraries. It may be useful to see where other institutions have classified a work, but class numbers should not be taken straight from such sources without comparing with our current local usage of Dewey.

• Similarly, check OCLC Classify () to see where other libraries have classified books.

• The Relative Index in Vol. 4 of DDC23, which can be useful for listing options according to different aspects of a subject.

• Browsing WebDewey, the DDC23 schedules, using the Relative Index or your own experience as a starting point.

• Note that the Departmental fund used to purchase the book should not unduly influence the choice of class number, and you should resist pressure to force a book onto a particular floor. All books are owned by the Library and are available for use by all, and users should not expect to find all ‘their’ books in one place. However, the fund may be a useful deciding factor if there is a choice of equally valid class numbers.

Portsmouth University Library practice

Dewey class numbers are applied to most monographic material in a physical format (e.g. books, DVDs), and also to some serial material where it is shelved among related monographs (e.g. standing orders, Statistics Collection, EDC). There are, however, some categories of physical monographic material in the University Library which we do not classify:

• Theses: These are shelved alphabetically by author in the Reserve Stock.

• Parliamentary Papers: Individual titles are catalogued on request, and shelved along with uncatalogued titles in sequences of command papers, House of Commons papers and House of Lords papers.

• Electronic resources (e.g. e-books, e-journals, databases, Institutional Repository, streamed videos): These are not classified because they are not in a physical format and therefore cannot be shelved.

Reclassification:

• We are currently in the process of a major project to reclassify all library stock to DDC23. There has never previously been any opportunity for a complete overhaul, and therefore much of our stock is still classified to DDC18, with some areas taken from later editions. These inconsistencies will dwindle as the reclassification project progresses.

• We also still retain certain class numbers in the 800s (literature) which are a local variant of Dewey, devised many decades ago by library staff of the time. Diverging from standard Dewey schedules for local reasons could be useful in the past, but now that cataloguing and classification are increasingly standardised and automated, the disadvantages are clear. Again, these inconsistencies will dwindle as the reclassification project progresses.

When classifying, it is important to be consistent within our own stock. Duplicate copies should always be put at the same class number as copies already in stock. New editions will almost always go at the same class number as earlier editions, changing only if the content has changed significantly, e.g. to cover a wider geographical area.

It is not always possible to fit a book into a single classification number. In this case we choose a main entry, where the book will be shelved, plus any reasonable number of added entries. This is currently of limited use, as Prism does not offer the option of refining a search by class number, but added entries may become useful again in the future, so we should continue to use them.

Last updated: Leon Perry, 11th September 2020

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