The Dewey Decimal System

1
The Dewey Decimal System

• Its purpose, history and function

2
Purpose

• Organizing books in a library
• Keeps books about the same subject together on
  the shelf
• Helps people locate specific books in the library

3
History

• Created by Melvil Dewey who finished it in 1876.
• Before this libraries organized their books by
  subject but each library did it differently.
• This made finding books confusing.

4
How the System Works

• Books are assigned 3 digit numbers.
• The first digit tells the main subject heading.
• The second digit tells the subdivision it belongs
  to.
• The third digit gives even more detailed
  information about the subject.
• Books can be divided into more specific subjects
  by adding a decimal point followed by one or more
  digits.

5
10 Basic Categories

• 000 Reference works encyclopedias, newspapers,
  magazines
• 100 Philosophy and psychology
• 200 Religion and mythology
• 300 Social sciences law, education, customs,
  everyday life
• 400 Languages

6
10 Basic Categories cont.

• 500 Natural sciences mathematics, chemistry,
  things that appear in nature
• 600 Applied sciences technology, medicine,
  engineering, computers, things that people build
• 700 The Arts architecture, painting, music,
  sports
• 800 Literature poetry, novels, plays
• 900 Geography, history and biography

7
More Specific Areas

• The 10 basic categories are then broken down into
  more specific areas by adding a second digit.
  These are called subdivisions.

8
Example Subdivisions of 700 Group

• 700 The Arts
• 710 Civic and landscape art
• 720 Architecture
• 730 Sculpture
• 740 Decorative arts
• 750 Painting
• 760 Graphic arts
• 770 Photography
• 780 Music
• 790 Recreation

9
More Specific Subject Information

• Even more information can be given about a
  subject by adding a 3rd digit. For example 790
  is Recreation and 793 is games, puzzles and party
  fun.
• Adding a decimal point and more digits can give
  you details. Example 793.8 is books on magic
  tricks.
• Additional digits would be added after the 8 to
  make it even more specific.

10
Shelf Order

• Non-fiction books are arranged in
  numerical/number order according to their call
  number
• Shorter numbers come before longer numbers.
  Examples 793 comes before 793.8 551.5 comes
  before 551.53 320.253 comes before 320.2535
• If two numbers are the same then you need to look
  at the letters below them which represent the
  first 3 letters of the authors last name. They
  are then in alphabetical order. Example 253
  EVA comes before 253 JON