As a library employee, I (far too frequently) hear the complaint, "I just don't understand the Dewey Decimal thing".
Most of the time, this is just an excuse to avoid something that looks too intimidating. But the Dewey system is actually very simple, and very logical. I've been using it easily ever since I got my first library card.
This post will explain briefly, and hopefully simply, exactly who, what, why, and how.
WHO
Melvil Dewey was a librarian in the late 1800's. Back then, there wasn't a real system for organizing non-fiction. People just shelved it however the heck they felt like it.
In 1876, Dewey invented the decimal system so that libraries could all be on the same page. (Pun intended.)
WHAT
In the simplest terms, the Dewey decimal system puts all the books about the same topic into the same section. Each number represents a particular topic.
WHY
With fiction, it's easy. People browse fiction by genre and author. So that is how you organize it. But that is not so easily done with non-fiction. If you need a book about fungus, how the heck are you supposed to know which different authors might have written the kind of book you need? It has to be done by topic. But before 1876, topic was an entirely subjective thing.
Imagine going to a grocery store that you've never been in before. You want some broccoli. You think it might be next to other vegetables, since that is how it works at home, but you can't find it anywhere. Next you check in the refrigerated stuff because maybe they're trying to keep it fresher. Not there.
You could try the soup, since lots of soups have broccoli in them. No luck again. Or maybe with the dairy, since cheese goes so well with it. Still nothing. At last, you round a corner after searching every row, and there it is with lawn chairs, plastic cups, wheat thins, and some on sale St. Patrick's day cookies.
What did all those things have in common? They were all green.
All of these are organized methods to arrange merchandise. Some make more sense than others, but it all depends on the mind of the person who arranged it.
Can you imagine how very long it would take to do your shopping if every single store had its own way of shelving their food? Luckily, it isn't like that. Vegetables are always with other vegetables. Dairy is with other dairy. Meat is with meat.
This is what the dewey system does for libraries. It puts the meat with the other meat. No matter what library you go into, you will be able to know which types of books will be in which sections.
HOW
This is the big question. And the one that the majority of you probably feel is the truly hard part.
But the thing about the Dewey system is that you don't need to remember which numbers belong to which subjects. You don't need to know how they decided the system, or when the decimals change, or anything like that.
(That's the beauty of library catalogs.)
There is only one thing you have to learn in order to be able to use the system: You have to be able to count.
I bet at least one of you doesn't believe me that it's this simple, so I will give you an example. Say that the book you looked up is under 796.
When you walk into the shelves, you find that you are in the 100 section. Is 796 higher or lower?
Clearly higher. Move along.
You pass many shelves before looking again at where you are. 811. Is 796 higher or lower?
It is lower. You've gone too far. You have to go back a little bit.
Now you are in a row with books that say 780. Is 796 higher or lower?
Higher. You're almost there.
791. 792. 793. 794. 795. 796. You've reached your goal. You may now browse the sports section to your heart's content.
A Little More Practice
If you still feel unsure, here are some practice exercises you can do. Answers are below.
1) Put these numbers in order:
139.3
256.79
940.6
811.54
001.113
2) Put these numbers in order:
711.2
711.3
711.9
711.34
711.902
711.22
3) Put these numbers in order
796.323
796.332
796.334
796.233
796.32
796.303
4) You are looking for Dragonology. The catalog gave you this number: 398.245
These books are on the shelf:
128.4
292.211
398.2
401.6
629.41
Where would Dragonology be found?
5) You are looking for Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. The catalog gave you this number: 646.78
These books are on the shelf:
641.5874
643.98
646.781
647.2
650.235
Where would Mars and Venus be found?
ANSWERS:
1) 001.113
139.3
256.79
811.54
940.6
2) 711.2
711.22
711.3
711.34
711.9
711.902
3) 796.233
796.303
796.32
796.323
796.332
796.334
4) It would be between 398.2 and 401.6
5) It would be between 643.98 and 646.781
And that, friends, is the Dewey decimal system. Not nearly as tricky as it is made out to be by some people. Now you can locate your books in peace and harmony with the world.
IN CASE YOU CARE
Just in case you really are interested in the further workings of the dewey decimal system, here is a basic list of which topics are in which sections.
000 – Computer science, information and general works - Computers are in this section because they weren't invented yet when Dewey created his system. So they had to stick them up in the front. Also in this section are things like aliens and cryptozoology (the study of stuff like bigfoot, loch ness monster, and other "real" but not real things.)
100 – Philosophy and psychology - Chicken soup for the soul, serial killer profiles, all sorts of stuff.
200 – Religion - practiced religions as well as mythologies from ancient ones. If you want to know about Zeus, or Thor, or Amun-Ra, or Islam, or Buddhism, or Christianity, go here.
300 – Social sciences - Loads of stuff here. Military books, spyology, manners books, going to school, informational holiday books, fairy tales, and basically anything that has to do with social culture.
400 – Language - Grammar as well as signing or foreign languages. Any whatever-to-English dictionaries will be here.
500 – Science (including mathematics) - Basically, facts on what we know about the world. How volcanoes work, simple machines, rainforest life, animal books, dinosaurs, bugs, tornadoes, etc.
600 – Technology and applied Science - Books that talk about how we use science in our lives. So an animal book would be in the 500's but a book about how to raise an animal on a farm or for a pet would be in 600. Outer space, cars, robots, the human body. Also cook books, relationship books, business practice, and lots of organizational stuff and how-to things.
700 – Arts and recreation - Huge section. Art history, architecture, how to make art, cartooning, wood work, calligraphy, crafts, knitting, crocheting, photography, music history, music how to, movies, games, sports, hunting, extreme sports...
800 – Literature - Meaning things like poetry, plays, and the most classic of the classics. (Dante's inferno or shakespeare.) Books about other fiction books. Cliff notes. How to write.
900 – History, geography, and biography - Also, a lot here. Anything about history, and that takes up quite a lot of subject matter. (WWII, ancient Greece, 9-11...) Travel books. Sections for every country in the world. Stuff like Corrie Ten Boom's the Hiding Place.
In our library the biography section is so huge, that we just turned it into its own thing at the end. I think a lot of libraries do that.
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