025.431: The Dewey blog

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

The twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on the night of November 9–10, 1989, has brought many news stories and reminiscences about the original event. The following sites all have multiple stories, though only one is cited here.  Deutsche Welle has “November 9, 1989 - The Day That Changed European History.”  SPIEGEL ONLINE International has “How Poland and Hungary Led the Way in 1989.” The BBC has “The Night the Berlin Wall Fell.” The Guardian has “Berlin's Moment of Freedom That Turned World History.” National Public Radio has “The Night the Wall Fell: Freedom, Fatherhood Collide.”

Historical works about the Berlin Wall can be narrow or broad with respect to both space and time.  The Berlin Wall was not limited to Berlin; it continued in East Germany in former Potsdam district (T2—43154).  The November 9 breach of the Wall, however, occurred in Berlin.  Within Berlin (T2—43155 Berlin), the wall itself was physically located in East Berlin (T2—431552 Eastern Berlin), but a full account of the fall of the wall on the night of November 9–10, 1989, involves at minimum both eastern and western Berlin.  Historical works that emphasize Berlin at the time of the fall of the wall are classed in 943.1550878 History of Berlin, 1982–1990 (built with 9 plus T2—43155, following instructions at 930–990 History of ancient world; of specific continents, countries, localities; of extraterrestrial worlds, plus 0878 from 943.0878 Germany, 1982–1990, following instructions at 01–09 Historical periods in the add table under 930–990).  An example of a work classed in 943.1550878 is When the Wall Came Tumbling Down: 50 Hours That Changed the World; here is a description of the work: “Using never-before-seen footage, this compelling film shows what really happened November 9th–11th, 1989 during the fall of the Berlin Wall.” 

Historical works that treat both parts of Berlin but cover the full period of the Berlin Wall are classed in 943.155087 History of Berlin, 1945–1990 (built with 9 plus T2—43155, following instructions at 930–990, plus 087 from 943.087 Germany, 1945–1990, following instructions at 01–09 in the add table under 930–990).  An example of a work classed in 943.155087 is The Berlin Wall: 13 August 1961–9 November 1989. 

Historical works that emphasize East Germany at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall are classed in 943.10879 Period of East Germany, 1989–1990.  The number is one of the special period numbers for the former East Germany, a subdivision of 943.1087 Period of East Germany, 1945–1990.   An example of a work classed in 943.10879 is The Fall of the Berlin Wall.

The built number 943.1552087 History of East Berlin, 1945–1990 (built with 9 plus T2—431552 Eastern Berlin, following instructions at 930–990, plus 087 from 943.1087 Period of East Germany, 1945-1990, following instructions at 01–09 in the add table under 930–990) has limited use because of its narrow focus on East Berlin.

Historical works that treat broadly the roles of multiple central European countries, including Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia as well as Germany, are classed in 943.0009048 History of central Europe, 1980–1989 (built with 943.00090 plus 48 from T1—09048 1980–1989, following instructions at 943.000901–943.000905 Historical periods of central Europe). An example of a work classed in 943.0009048 is The Year That Changed the World: The Untold Story behind the Fall of the Berlin Wall. 

Works that emphasize the immediate effect of the fall of the Berlin Wall on world history are classed in 909.828 World history, 1980–1989.  An example of a work classed in 909.828 is The Fall of the Berlin Wall: The Revolutionary Legacy of 1989.  The work treats the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and China.

Norman Borlaug and Wheat Stem Rust

Since his death in September, there have been news stories about Norman Borlaug, e.g., an obituary from the Telegraph that begins:

Norman Borlaug, who died on September 12 aged 95, won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his achievement in promoting the use of more productive cereal strains in order to feed the world’s vast population of the starving; his efforts to introduce hybrid cereal varieties into agricultural production in Pakistan, India, Mexico and other developing countries are estimated to have saved about a thousand million people from dying of hunger.

Borlaug spent his life on the borders of traditional agriculture and biotechnology and stood at the centre of the greatest and most dramatic success stories in world farming — the so-called “Green Revolution” of the 1960s. Perhaps more than anyone else, he was responsible for the fact that throughout the postwar era, except in sub-Saharan Africa, global food production has expanded faster than the human population, averting the mass starvations that were once widely predicted.

But Borlaug’s “Green Revolution” was not “green” in the modern sense. High yields demanded artificial fertiliser, chemical pesticides and new soil technology. As a result of this he was vilified by many in the environmental movement . . . .

Norman Borlaug spent his life in agricultural research and dealt with many aspects of technical agriculture.  His comprehensive biography number is 630.92 Agriculture—biography (built with 63 from 630 Agriculture and related technologies plus T1—092 Persons). (In the table of preference at the start of Table 1, T1—092 Persons is higher than T1—07 Education, research, related topics.)  An example of a work classed in 630.92 is The Man Who Fed the World: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug and His Battle to End World Hunger: An Authorized Biography.

There is not space in this blog entry to cover all the specific aspects of agricultural technology touched by Norman Borlaug; two closely related examples will have to suffice.  (There is also not space to consider the social, economic, and environmental aspects—fortunate and unfortunate—of the Green Revolution.)   Late in his life Borlaug was fighting a new outbreak of wheat stem rust.  The May 2009 issue of Science ran a story, “The Famine Fighter's Last Battle,” that began:

On a cold, January morning in 2005, a small plane landed outside the town of Njoro, Kenya, where a handful of scientists waited eagerly as the plane taxied. After the propellers stopped, an old man slowly climbed out and walked across the grassy airstrip. Norman Borlaug, then 91, had come from Nairobi to examine for himself the impact of a highly virulent race of stem rust, called Ug99, a plant pathogen that had recently crossed the border from Uganda and was now threatening wheat farmers around the world.

Few living people—scientists or farmers—had had any experience with outbreaks of stem rust. To Borlaug, however, it was a familiar enemy. After epidemics had devastated wheat fields in Mexico in the 1940s, Borlaug, who was working at an agricultural experiment station in Mexico, bred new varieties of wheat that could resist the disease. These varieties were a key component of the green revolution of the 1960s, helping to boost wheat yields in Mexico and avert famine in India, Pakistan, and elsewhere. Ever since, the world had seemed safe from stem rust. Now, the energetic, tenacious, Nobel Peace Prize–winner is trying once more to defeat the threat.

The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative carries on the work.  In June the Los Angeles Times ran an article entitled “A ‘Time Bomb’ for World Wheat Crop” that began:

The Ug99 fungus, called stem rust, could wipe out more than 80% of the world's wheat crops as it spreads from Africa, scientists fear. The race is on to breed resistant plants before it reaches the U.S.

The DDC number for wheat stem rust fungus is 633.119492 Wheat rusts (built with 633.11 Wheat plus 9 Injuries, diseases, pests from add table under 633–635 Specific plant crops, following footnote instruction at 633.11, plus 4 from 632.4 Fungus diseases, following add instruction at 9 in the add table, plus 92 from 579.592 Uredinales [Rusts], following the add instruction at 632.4).  An example of a work classed in 633.119492 is Stem Rust of Wheat.

The DDC number for breeding new wheat varieties based on studies of their genetics (as well as genetic engineering of new wheat varieties) is 633.11233 Agricultural genetics of wheat (built with 633.11 Wheat plus 233 from 631.5233 Agricultural genetics, following instructions at 1–6 Cultivation and harvesting from add table under 633–635).  An example of a work classed in 633.11233 is Genes for Rust Resistance in Wheat.

CENDI/NKOS Workshop 2009

Last week, Juli Beall and I attended an all-day workshop on “Knowledge Organization Systems:  Managing to the Future,” sponsored jointly by CENDI and the NKOS (Networked Knowledge Organization Systems) Working Group.  (See the blog entry from last year’s workshop for background information on CENDI and NKOS.)  This year’s workshop was hosted by the National Agricultural Library.

The program was organized into three sections, with emphasis on different facets of  knowledge organization system (KOS) management:  (1) toward shared development, (2) toward interoperability, and (3) toward ontologies and the semantic web.  (Note how the inclusion of “toward” in the title of each section echoes the workshop subtitle—managing to the future—and indicates that each of these ventures is a “work in progress.”) 

One aspect of shared development is making information about knowledge organization systems widely available.  This subject was addressed in the presentation by Marjorie Hlava on Taxonomy ShareSpace, a terminology registry for controlled vocabularies.   Only a limited number of terminologies are currently documented in the registry; developers of thesauri, subject heading lists, taxonomies, ontologies, etc., are invited to contribute information. 

Interoperability was the theme receiving the most attention during the workshop.  Marcia Lei Zeng's presentation reported on ISO standard 25964.  Part 1 of the standard, currently in Draft International Standard stage, will replace standards from the mid-1980s on monolingual and multilingual thesauri; part 2 of the standard addresses interoperability of thesauri with other vocabularies and began development over the summer.  Especial attention was given to the issue of “nonsymmetrical multilingual thesauri.”  Lack of symmetry is not limited, of course, to knowledge organization systems in different languages.  Any mapping project we engage in runs up against this same problem:  there are different ways of organizing our perceptions of the world of recorded knowledge.  Indeed, a constant concern of the editorial team is to make sure we ferret out, on the one hand, and do not introduce, on the other hand, asymmetries within the DDC itself (except that a subject may be developed more deeply in one discipline than another, or in one language than another; the expressive notation used in the DDC renders this kind of asymmetry quite manageable).  (Asymmetry between knowledge organization systems was also a key reason why Willem Robert van Hage’s presentation, given as part of the ontologies and semantic web section, emphasized the benefits of aligning, rather than merging, ontologies.) The presentation by Thomas Baker focused on a set of levels of interoperability, geared toward the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, but also applicable in other contexts.  Study of his characterization of these levels should productively inform decisions on the degree of interoperability to be sought in specific situations. 

We should also note how gratified we were that Ed Summers’ presentation [8] on the use of SKOS in id.loc.gov, a web service that makes Library of Congress Subject Headings available as linked data, also highlighted dewey.info.

Staffordshire Hoard

In September the news broke, “Huge Anglo-Saxon Gold Hoard Found”:

The UK’s largest haul of Anglo-Saxon treasure has been discovered buried in a field in Staffordshire. . . . . The Staffordshire hoard contains about 5kg of gold and 2.5kg of silver, making it far bigger than the Sutton Hoo discovery in 1939 when 1.5kg of Anglo-Saxon gold was found near Woodbridge in Suffolk.

Summary of the Hoard and Interpretation, a report by Kevin Leahy, National Finds Adviser from the Portable Antiquities Scheme, who cataloged the items, includes the following (pp. 5–6):

While much of the decorative detail on these objects remains obscured by earth it seems on present evidence that the contents of the hoard range from the later sixth to the early eighth centuries AD. . . . .

The discovery of this hoard in Staffordshire should cause no surprise; it is the heartland of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia which was militarily aggressive and expansionist during the seventh and eighth centuries under kings Penda (633–655), Wulfhere (658–675), Aethelred (675–704), Coenred (704–19 [–709]), Ceolred (709–716) or Aethelbald (716–757). This material could have been collected by any of these men during their wars with Northumbria and East Anglia or indeed, by someone whose name is lost to history.

The deposit is “unbalanced”, consisting, in the main, of fittings from swords. Other, related objects, such as baldric fittings and large triangular buckles are absent, as are feminine dress fittings. Some fragments may represent helmet fragments but more work needs to be done on them. . . . .

The Staffordshire find might be interpreted as a ‘trophy hoard’ in the original sense of the word: material collected from vanquished enemies, the sword blades perhaps re-used but stripped of their valuable fittings.

Many kinds of works could be written about the Staffordshire hoard.  One kind could study what the hoard plus other sources reveal about the general history of Staffordshire in the seventh or eighth centuries.  Where should such a work be classed?  If one browses in the Relative Index for “Archaeology,” one finds (among other entries):
Archaeology                          930.1
Archaeology—ancient places    931–939
Archaeology—modern places    940–990

If one browses the Relative Index for “England,” one finds:
England                                942
England                                T2—42

If one browses the Relative Index for “England—ancient,” one finds:
England—ancient                    936.2
England—ancient                    T2—362

What is the dividing line in DDC between ancient and modern England?  The caption for 936.2 has the answer: 936.2     Southern Britain to 410    England.  Clearly the seventh and eighth centuries are too late for ancient England.  The comprehensive history number for England in the seventh and eighth centuries is 942.015—a number with two subdivisions that reflect the struggles of Northumbria and Mercia:
942.015      Period of Heptarchy, ca. 600–829
942.0153         Supremacy of Northumbria, 603–685
942.0157         Supremacy of Mercia, 757–796
The Table 2 number for Staffordshire (England) after 410 is T2—4246. The history number for Staffordshire in the seventh and eighth centuries is 942.46015 Staffordshire, ca. 600–829 (built with 9 plus T2—4246, following instructions at 930–990 History of ancient world; of specific continents, countries, localities; of extraterrestrial worlds, plus 0 plus 15 from 942.015, following instructions at 01–09 Historical periods in the add table under 930–990).

The work Sutton Hoo and Its Landscape: The Context of Monuments, which treats the historical context of the Sutton Hoo archaeological site in Suffolk Coastal District, is classed in 942.646015 Suffolk Coastal District, ca. 600–829 (built with 9 plus T2—42646 Suffolk Coastal District, following instructions at 930–990, plus 0 plus 15 from 942.015, following instructions at 01–09 in the add table under 930–990).

Dewey at AASL 2009

Are you going to the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) 14th National Conference in Charlotte November 5-8?  If yes, please join us for a free breakfast and chat about Dewey in school libraries at the Dewey Breakfast/Update on Saturday, November 7, 7:00–8:30 a.m., in the Magnolia Room at the Courtyard by Marriott, Charlotte City Center, 237 S. Tryon Street.

The agenda includes a lively discussion about “what does it mean to use Dewey?” plus a review of the latest proposals for changes to the 370 Education schedule.  We have discussed possible changes to 370 Education at the last two AASL conferences; at this year’s meeting, we’ll review proposals for updates to specific subjects in primary education and specific levels of education.  We’ve incorporated suggestions from AASL members and other groups in the latest version of the 370 Education and are anxious for feedback from school librarians before finalizing the content for inclusion in the print version of DDC 23.  The meeting will also include a general Dewey update and open discussion period—bring those burning Dewey questions and suggestions!

Please register here by November 2.  See you in Charlotte!

Dewey Translators Meeting at IFLA 2009

Forty-five librarians from seventeen countries attended the Dewey Translators Meeting at the World Library and Information Congress (75^th IFLA General Conference and Council) in Milan on August 25. We started the Dewey Translators Meeting in 2003 at IFLA in Berlin as a forum to discuss issues of interest to DDC translation teams (hence the name), but the focus of the meeting has broadened over the years to embrace topics of interest to a wide range of attendees beyond the core group of translation partners.

The first speaker at this year’s meeting, Marie Baliková (Czech National Library), discussed a UDC/DDC crosswalk developed by the Czech National Library for the purpose of collection assessment. The Czech National Library uses the UDC as its primary knowledge organization tool, but makes use of a UDC/DDC crosswalk to enable use of a DDC-based tool for collection assessment. Marie also touched more general issues in knowledge organization—challenges in the creation of crosswalks, identification of weaknesses in classification systems, and problems in the presentation of captions to end users.

Julianne Beall discussed the use of Dewey in the World Digital Library (WDL) project with a focus on the draft guidelines for classifying photographs for the project. We developed the guidelines in consultation with Dewey Section classifiers involved in classifying photographs for WDL. Diane Vizine-Goetz presented an update on two OCLC Office of Research initiatives, Classify, a prototype web service designed to support the assignment of classification numbers, and WorldCat work pages, a project to create rich descriptions from catalog data resulting in a page for every work. Sample WorldCat work pages are available at http://frbr.oclc.org/research/pages/000021759.html. Finally, I presented a brief update on the some changes in the representation of the DDC in MARC 21 formats, design plans for WebDewey 2.0, and the launch of DDC linked data.

We were fortunate to have the heads of all four European DDC Users’ Group (EDUG) working groups in attendance at the Dewey Translators Meeting. Yvonne Jahns (DNB) discussed the work of the EDUG 340 Law Working Group, which has been considering European Union law, theory of sources of law, juristic acts, criminal courts, criminal procedure, and legal professionals. A preliminary report is expected before the end of September, and Yvonne will attend EPC Meeting 132 in November 2009 to discuss the report. Anne-Céline Lambotte (Université de la Méditerranée) reported on the work the EDUG 370 Education Working Group has done on levels of education and subjects in primary education. The 340 and 370 working groups had enough members present in Florence the week before at “Looking at the Past and Preparing for the Future,” an IFLA satellite meeting held August 20-21, to hold a meeting on August 20. Magdalena Svanberg (National Library of Sweden) discussed the EDUG 930 Archaeology Working Group’s concerns about the interdisciplinary provisions for archaeology at 930.1, within 930 History of ancient world to ca. 499. Archaeology of a place after 499 or a place not provided for in T2—3 The ancient world is classed with the history of the place in 940-990 General history of modern world. Gordon Dunsire (University of Strathclyde) reported on the recommendation of the EDUG Technical Issues Working Group that the Dewey editorial team publish the Dewey URI specification. The Dewey URI specification is one of the underpinnings of the recently launched dewey.info service—we plan to issue a discussion paper shortly based on the version of the specification presented at EPC Meeting 131. In the open reporting session, Sohair Wastawy (Bibliotecha Alexandrina) updated the group on the progress of the Arabic translation. We are working together toward the goal of publishing the Arabic translation of DDC 23 near simultaneously with the publication of the English-language edition. By the way, the 2010 EDUG meeting will be held at Bibliotecha Alexandrina in April 2010.

Wind Power

News articles like “Wind Could Meet China's Electricity Needs by 2030: Study” and “Could Wind Power China’s Energy Future?” appeared in response to a report in the September 11 issue of Science, “Potential for Wind-Generated Electricity in China.” The Science article reports on a study that covers a range of factors, including meteorology, economics, and government policies.  The abstract reads in part:

Wind fields derived from assimilated meteorological data are used to assess the potential for wind-generated electricity in China subject to the existing government-approved bidding process for new wind farms. Assuming a guaranteed price of 0.516 RMB (7.6 U.S. cents) per kilowatt-hour for delivery of electricity to the grid over an agreed initial average period of 10 years, it is concluded that wind could accommodate all of the demand for electricity projected for 2030, about twice current consumption.

The interdisciplinary number for wind power is 333.92 Air, a subdivision of 333.9 Other natural resources.  The entry for 333.92 has the class-here note: “Class here wind energy, use of wind for generation of electricity.”  An example of a work classed in 333.92 is Wind Energy—The Facts: A Guide to the Technology, Economics and Future of Wind Power.  Because of the class-here note, wind energy approximates the whole of 333.92, and further addition is possible.  For example, Wind Power in Europe: Politics, Business and Society is classed in 333.92094 Wind energy in Europe, built with 333.92 Air plus T1—09 Geographic treatment plus T2—4 Europe (as instructed at T1—093–T1—099 Treatment by specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds).  Because of the add footnote at 333.92 (“Add as instructed under 333.7-333.9”), it is necessary to check the entry 01–09 Standard subdivisions in the add table at 333.7–333.9 Natural resources and energy to be sure that there are no special instructions for standard subdivisions.

Works on the technology of wind-powered generation of electricity are classed in 621.312136 Wind-powered generation.  (There is a note at 621.45 Wind engines: “Class wind-powered generation of electricity in 621.312136.”)  An example of a work classed in 621.312136 is Homebrew Wind Power: A Hands-On Guide to Harnessing the Wind.

Summer Is Over, but the Memory Lingers On

In the U.S. it’s traditional to take a vacation sometime during the summer months of June, July, or August.  And so it was as friends would mention where they had just returned from that they would in turn ask if I were going somewhere interesting.  I had to admit that my only plans were to take a few days off around Labor Day, the traditional end to summer in the U.S.  According to some of my friends, that just simply wasn’t a vacation at all, because it was already a holiday.  (Note:  The word “holiday” has at least two senses.  According to sense 1, holidays are vacations and represent personal leisure time; where some people [e.g., Americans] take vacations, others go on holiday.   According to sense 2, holidays are times that are fixed institutionally [e.g., by a governmental or ecclesiastical body].  My mini-vacation was a holiday in both senses.)  The short time period demanded that more be packed into a smaller amount of time.  But not to fear—I’m not going to try to convince you that that’s the case, but will highlight only two of the activities I undertook.

As a cultural institution, vacations are classed in 306.48125 Vacations (Holidays).  Labor Day is classed in 394.264 Holidays of September, October, November, where it is in standing room.  In contrast, some holidays, e.g., Halloween and Thanksgiving, approximate the whole of their respective classes and thus permit the addition of standard subdivisions and other number building techniques.   Note:  Sense 1 of “holiday” shows up in the context of 306.48125 Vacations (Holidays), while sense 2 of “holiday” shows up in the context of 394.26 Holidays. 

Activity one:  hiking in the Shenandoah National Park.  One hike, on a path “less traveled by,” brought us in near proximity to the local wildlife in the form of an American black bear.  Fortunately the bear was no more eager to make our acquaintance than we were to make his (or maybe it was hers).  By the time I spotted the bear, it had climbed a tree about 15 yards/meters away; it then scampered back down the tree and took off in the opposite direction from us.  We went singing on our way to let the bear know where we were, so it could continue to stay away!

General works on hiking are classed in 796.51 Walking; works on hiking the part of the Shenandoah National Park we were in are classed in 796.5220975594 (796.522 Walking and exploring mountains, hills, rocks plus T1—09 Geographic treatment plus T2—75594 Page County as instructed at T1—093–T1—099 Treatment by specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds; comprehensive works on Shenandoah National Park use T2—7559 Northwestern region of Virginia; works on the specific area of the park that we hiked in use T2—75594 Page County).  The interdisciplinary number for the Ursus americanus (American black bear) is 599.785.

Activity two:  visiting the other LC--the first is the Library of Congress; the second is Luray Caverns.  The caverns contain a one-of-a-kind musical instrument, built after Leland Sprinkle had the idea of using the tones created by tapping the stalactites in the caverns in the operation of an organ.  The resulting instrument, the Great Stalacpipe Organ, is said to be the largest musical instrument in the world:  the organ’s keyboards control mallets that strike stalactites spread out over an area of 3.5 acres (ca. 15,000 meters square).

The Luray Caverns are classed in 551.4470975594 (551.447 Caves and related features plus T1—09 Geographic treatment plus T2—75594 Page County as instructed at T1—093–T1—099 Treatment by specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds).  While the prototypical organ is classed in 786.5 Keyboard wind instruments, the Great Stalacpipe Organ is, in contrast, a lithophone, which classes with other percussion instruments in 786.83 Keyboard idiophones.

A sanitarium named “Limair” was built over the caverns.  Air from the caverns circulated through the sanitarium, with a complete exchange of air taking place every four minutes.  It is claimed that Limair was the first (1901) air-conditioned home in the United States. (It may seem odd to speak of this as air-conditioning.  The “conditioning” takes place as air is filtered naturally through the limestone walls of the caverns; no additional filtering took place as the shaft-and-fan system drew the air into the sanitarium.) 

Air conditioning in sanatoriums (“sanitarium” and “sanatorium” are alternate spellings of the same word) is classed in 697.93551 (697.93 Air conditioning + 551 General hospital and sanatorium buildings from 725.51, following instructions at 697.935-697.938).

Forest Fires

The Station fire—a forest fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, California—has been in the news since it began August 26, 2009.  Fire officials expect it to be contained soon.

Browsing the Relative Index for “Forest fires” yields the following:

Forest fires                                    363.379
Forest fires—forestry                  634.9618
Forest fires—social services      363.379

Since a Relative Index entry with no subdivision identifies the interdisciplinary number for a topic, interdisciplinary works on forest fires are classed in 363.379 Fire hazards in specific situations.  Social services aspects of forest fires are also classed in 363.379. Since “forest fires” are named in an including note at 363.379 (“Including fire hazards in high-rise buildings, schools, transportation; forest fires”), nothing can be added. Examples of works classed in 363.379 are Wildfire! The 1871 Peshtigo Firestorm and The Experience of Community Residents in a Fire-Prone Ecosystem: A Case Study on the San Bernardino National Forest.

Works on the forestry technology aspects of forest fires are classed in 634.9618 Forest fire technology (built with 634.96 Injury, diseases, pests in forestry plus 18 from 632.18 Fire damage to plants, as instructed at 634.96).  For example, Ecological Foundations for Fire Management in North American Forest and Shrubland Ecosystems is classed in 634.9618097 Forest fire technology in North America (634.9618 plus T1—09 Geographic treatment plus T2—7 North America as instructed at T1—093–T1—099 Treatment by specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds).

Travelling Pants

On my last visit to Australia, I learned about a project of the Gosford City Library to promote youth services in public libraries in New South Wales, Australia.  It’s the Jean Genies - Travelling Pants! program (PDF file in that last link).  As that document says, “this program has 4 pairs of jeans travelling around NSW public libraries in 2009.  Participating libraries will be decorating the jeans and holding programs or displays based around the theme before sending the jeans on to the next library.”

What Dewey number would we assign to such a program?

• That for jeans (391 Costume and personal appearance being the interdisciplinary number)? – no, you are taken out of there by the reference “For a specific aspect of costume and clothing, see the aspect, e.g., stage costuming 792.026, clothing construction 646.4.”
• That for public libraries (027.4)? – no, you are taken out of that by the reference at 026-027 Specific kinds of institutions, which has hierarchical force at 027.4 Public libraries: “Class a specific operation in a specific kind of institution with the operation.”
• That for public relations (659.2)? – no, you are taken out of there by the reference at 659.29001-659.29999 Subdivisions for organizations producing specific kinds of products and services, or pursuing specific objectives: “however, for public relations in libraries, see 021.7.”

So the Dewey number for the Jean Genies project is 021.7 Promotion of libraries, archives, information centers, where the specific aspects of the use of jeans and of promotion of public libraries are in standing room, so that you cannot add standard subdivisions or the Table 2 number for New South Wales.

Television Programs

We have been asked to distinguish between two parallel subdivisions of 791.45 Television, both under 791.457 Programs:

791.4572 Single programs
791.4575 Two or more programs

What is classed in 791.4572 Single programs?  Here is a guideline for regularly broadcast TV programs: a single program is a single “TV series,” to use the terminology of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), e.g., Saturday Night Live (SNL), which began broadcasting in 1975.  Parts of Saturday Night Live—a single episode, a single season, selections from many seasons—as well as collective treatment of the whole program are all classed in 791.4572.  Examples are the videorecording SNL. The Complete First Season, 1975–1976, and the book Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live.  Also classed in 791.4572 is a single “TV mini-series” (IMDb terminology); see the previous blog entry “Motion Pictures and Television.” That same blog entry explains that a single made-for-TV movie is classed in 791.4372 Single films, a subdivision of 791.43 Motion pictures.  

Back to subdivisions of 791.45 Television: what is classed in 791.4575 Two or more programs?  Works classed in 791.4575 include more than one of what IMDb calls a “TV series,” e.g., collective treatment of the original Star Trek (1966–1969); Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994); Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001); Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999); and Enterprise (2001–2005).  An example is the book Star Trek, described as an “authoritative account of the five Star Trek series.” 

Subject-oriented television programs are an important exception to the above guidelines; the scatter note at 791.457 Programs has hierarchical force and applies to both 791.4572 and 791.4575: “Class subject-oriented programs themselves with the subject, e.g., programs on flower gardening 635.9.”  An example is the videorecording A History of Britain: The Complete Collection, classed in 941 History of British Isles; it was originally produced for A History of Britain (“TV series 2000–2002”).

Dewey Summaries published as Linked Data

For a long time, we wanted to do something with Linked Data. That is, apply Linked Data principles to parts of the Dewey Decimal Classification and present the data as a small “terminology service.” The service should respond to regular HTTP requests with either a machine- or a human-readable presentation of Dewey classes. There should be a URI (and, even better, a web page that delivers a useful description) for every Dewey concept, not just single classes. The data should be presented in a format that is capable of handling rich semantic information and in a way that allows users or user agents to just follow their nose to explore the data. For more complex stuff, the service should offer an API-like query access. Finally, the data that are presented should be reusable by anyone for non-commercial purposes.

Some results of these efforts are now available as dewey.info. We had to come up with a URI pattern for the DDC that would generate persistent identifiers for DDC concepts in a distributed environment. Secondly, we wanted to test out the RDF vocabulary SKOS for creating a representational model to express some of the best nuggets of DDC data (language-independent identifiers, multilingual terminology, and semantic relationships). And finally, because Linked Open Data is not really open when you have to ask someone before you can use it, we wanted to test out a Creative Commons license for easier reuse of DDC data for non-commercial purposes.

We chose the DDC Summaries as a first data set to publish according to Linked Data principles. The latest version of the Summaries, i.e., the top three levels of DDC 22, has been available as a web document for some time. To broaden the possible applications of what now essentially is just tag soup (in only one language), every class had to be identified with a URI and the data had to be presented in a reusable way. Please give it a try at dewey.info. An extended overview of the service can be found here, a slightly more technical description is available on the OCLC Developer Network wiki.

What you see now is only the first step. The intention of dewey.info is to be a platform for Dewey data on the web; more is to come in terms of languages, deeper data, and links to other datasets. The DDC has been widely used as a knowledge organization tool, and the way the URIs have been set up should allow the construction of links based on existing metadata in resource descriptions like bibliographic records.

An example: As the World Digital Library is getting ready to deploy RDF views of its data, instead of just including the Dewey number as a literal (or pointing to some other data source), they could include URIs to dewey.info to tap into the SKOS relationships pointing to broader and narrower classes for retrieval interactions, etc. In turn, this establishes a link from a Dewey class to other vocabularies used concurrently for that resource, to Wikipedia, etc. Links can go both ways and benefit all participating data sets, establishing a graph of Linked Data.

NASKO 2009

Back in June I enjoyed meeting with colleagues at the 2009 North American Symposium on Knowledge Organization, the biennial meeting of the International Society for Knowledge Organization–Chapter for Canada and the United States, held at Syracuse University.   (Just to be clear:  NASKO refers only to the biennial meeting, while ISKO–C/US [unfortunately, we can all figure out how that acronym is going to end up being pronounced!] refers to the ISKO chapter.)

The School of Information Studies at Syracuse hosted the symposium in splendid style.  In welcoming us, Dean Liz Liddy noted that NASKO was the first conference to be held in their newly renovated building and expressed how appropriate it was that the first meeting there should be one dedicated to knowledge organization.  “Classification is really the core of every endeavor; I value your work.”  It was gratifying to be appreciated for what we collectively do.

The theme for the symposium, the first official meeting of the chapter, was Pioneering North American Contributions to Knowledge Organization.  The goal of the symposium was to serve as an “occasion . . . to take stock of our past in light of the present and with an eye to how this living heritage might be leveraged for the future.”

Several of the papers (all of which are available on dLIST) addressed themes relevant to our work with the DDC.  Through the lens of Paul Ricoeur’s distinction between language and discourse, Grant Campbell addressed the tension between global and local perspectives in knowledge organization:  how can our systems be interoperable, which would enable access to information resources on a global level, but still preserve that which is specific to the cultures and communities they serve?  Linda Hill presented a paper on geocoding in KO, a topic that editor Michael Panzer has also been exploring of late.  One of two papers presented by Tom Dousa examined evolutionary order in the theories and classificatory practices of Ernest Cushing Richardson and Charles Ammi Cutter, contemporaries of Melvil Dewey.

Lastly, I presented a paper on the notational system that Melvil Dewey devised for the DDC.  (I always love it when Dewey gets the last word!)  Just to whet your appetite, I repeat here the paper’s abstract:  “Historically, the notational system of the Dewey Decimal Classification provided for non-institution-specific, relative location shelf arrangements, thus substantially reducing bibliographic classification effort. Today its decimal notation continues to provide the classification scheme with flexible granularity, is hospitable to expansion, expresses relationships, interfaces well with modern retrieval systems, and is internationally understood.”

Dewey Translators Meeting at IFLA 2009

OCLC will host the annual Dewey Translators Meeting in conjunction with the World Library and Information Congress (75th IFLA General Conference and Assembly) on Tuesday, 25 August, 16:00-18:00, Orange 3 Meeting Room, Milano Convention Centre.  The agenda includes presentations on the UDC/DDC crosswalk developed by the Czech National Library for the purpose of collection assessment, the classification of photographs in the World Digital Library Project, Dewey research activities, and changes in the formats for the representation and distribution of the DDC.  Please register here if you wish to attend the meeting.

The New Editorial Support System: Application and Development Process

When I blogged the data side of our new Editorial Support System (ESS) a couple of months ago, I promised to follow up with blog entries on the ESS from the perspective of the application and the development process.  Funny thing, but since then, we’ve been heavily engaged in work to help get the ESS out the door (some of which is referred to below).   So this blog entry ends up being two entries rolled into one.

Short and sweet on the application side:  The editorial team has collectively decided that the ESS application should be classed in 025.4310285574 (built with 025.431 Dewey Decimal Classification, plus notation 0285 Computer applications from Table 1, plus notation 574 from 005.74, following instructions at T1—0285, to indicate that the ESS operates as a database management system).

Moving on then to the development process of the ESS:  The process that has governed the overall work has been agile software development, which matches a Relative Index term at 005.1 Programming; the class-here note at 005.1 includes software engineering.

The subclasses of 005.1 enumerate the most significant specific tasks involved in the application development process.  For example, 005.1068 Computer programming—Management (built with 005.1 Programming, plus notation 068 Management from Table 1) is the appropriate class number for the work done by the project manager to keep the flow of development tasks moving toward system launch. 

A major component of software development is the analysis of user requirements and the design of software to address user needs.  These aspects of the software development process are classed in 005.12 Software systems analysis and design, where the class-here note specifically indicates that “analysis of a user's problem preparatory to developing a software system to solve it” (i.e., user requirements) should be classed there.

Some standard subdivision concepts have been displaced, both because they have specific meanings in the context of software development and to achieve an appropriate order under 005.1.  For example, while one set of developers built the application and another set worked with the database, the editors tried to keep up with testing the various pieces (e.g., searching/browsing, spellcheck, validation, reports) as they emerged; our testing is classed in 005.14 Verification, testing, measurement, debugging, with testing and measurement having been displaced from 005.10287.

With the number of persons involved in the project, various types of communication were needed to keep everyone informed, including, for example, email (004.692 Electronic mail), videoconferences (384.556 Controlled transmission television), Sharepoint (a collaboration tool that we used primarily for sharing documents and links), and JIRA (an issue tracking system).  (For now, the latter two subjects would be classed in 006.78 Multimedia system programs, but we will need to revisit 006.7 before the whole increasingly-web-based world is classed there.)  In addition, documentation in the form of an online help component within the application will continue to keep users of the system informed; preparation of this component is classed in 005.15 Preparation of program documentation, where development of online help is mentioned in the including note.

This blog entry is dedicated (with heartfelt thanks) to the many persons who have worked diligently with us for well over a year to develop the new ESS.

Dewey Breakfast/Update at ALA Annual 2009: Presentations

The presentations from the Dewey Breakfast/Update at the ALA Annual Conference are now available on the Dewey web site at http://www.oclc.org/dewey/news/conferences/default.htm. 

ALA Awards

One of the highlights of the ALA Annual Conference is the recognition of important contributions to our profession.  On Monday, I had the pleasure of presenting the John Ames Humphry / OCLC / Forest Press Award to Pat Oyler (associate dean and professor at Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science) for her contributions to international librarianship.  Pat received this award for her significant contributions to library development in Vietnam, including cataloging standards, modern services, new technology application, and training and continuing education of librarians.  Juli Beall and I have had the privilege of traveling with Pat to Vietnam on several occasions in support of her efforts, and Pat was instrumental in the development and publication of the Vietnamese translation of the DDC.

Yesterday, I had the honor of presenting the Melvil Dewey Medal to Jim Neal (vice president for information services and university librarian at Columbia University).  Jim’s award citation reads in part:

In recognition of: his long and distinguished career as a director of three of America's most distinguished academic libraries; his role in effectively advocating for the interests of libraries in relation to intellectual property legislation and treaties at both the national and international levels . . .; his longstanding role in promoting changes in scholarly communication . . .; his vision and leadership in helping transform the roles, effectiveness, reach, and reputation of American's library organizations . . .; his steady, future-oriented promotion of an expansive and vital role for libraries through countless publications and speeches throughout the world; . . .

I also attended the presentation of the Margaret Mann Citation to Fran Miksa (emeritus professor, University of Texas School of Information).  The Margaret Mann Citation recognizes outstanding professional achievement in cataloging or classification.  One only needs to peruse the titles in Fran’s list of publications to see the key figures and topics he has tackled with vigorous scholarship over the years—Cutter, Dewey, Harris, Ranganathan, subject cataloging, classification in general, LCC and DDC, reference, LIS education, research libraries, and digital libraries.  There are two books in our field that I re-read on a regular basis because of their intellectual freshness and ability to prompt new insights—one is Patrick Wilson’s Two Kinds of Power: An Essay on Bibliographical Control, and the other is Fran Miksa’s The DDC, the Universe of Knowledge, and the Post-modern Library.  In the latter, Fran casts a critical historian’s eye on the Dewey Decimal Classification, library classification in general, the library as “public space” vs. “personal space,” and post-modernism (all in ninety-nine pages!).  I remember being mesmerized in the audience at Fran’s July 1996 lecture on which the book is based, and his thoughts continue to provoke me thirteen years later.

Dewey Breakfast/Update at ALA Annual 2009

Please join us for the Dewey Breakfast/Update at the ALA Annual Conference on Saturday, July 11, 7:00–8:20 a.m., Chicago Hilton, Lake Michigan Room. The program will feature a presentation on planned functionality in WebDewey 2.0 (with time for input from attendees), plus three brief presentations in a session entitled “What does it mean to ‘use Dewey’?”   In the latter, we’ll be discussing uses of the new 083 and 085 fields in the MARC Bibliographic format (both fields are slated to be introduced in WorldCat in August 2009), the use of a DDC-driven representation in seven languages to provide access to digital resources in the World Digital Library, and a multilingual DDC linked data prototype service.  

For those of you who attended my talk at the Texas Library Association Conference in April 2009 by the same name as the upcoming session, we’ll be showing new content at the Dewey Breakfast/Update at ALA. (By the way, Renee Patzer of Topeka and Shawnee County [KS] Public Library also participated in the same TLA program [Looking beyond Shelf Location: The Benefits of the Dewey Decimal Classification System in Libraries], and demonstrated a great use of the DDC to build “Dewey neighborhoods” in her library—her presentation and supporting materials are here.)

If you haven’t done so already, please register for the Dewey Breakfast/Update here.  See you next week in Chicago.

Accidents and Safety in Local Rail Transit Systems

The June 22 accident on the Washington, DC, Metrorail Red Line has been in the news, e.g., “Red Line Train Operator Used Brakes In Failed Bid to Stop Six-Car Train” and “Washington Metro Checking 3,000 Circuits After Crash.”  The accident is of special interest to two DDC assistant editors, Rebecca and Juli, who usually ride the Red Line to and from work—but were still at work when the accident occurred.  Our hearts go out to the people who were involved in the accident and their families.

The interdisciplinary number for works on transportation accidents and transportation safety is 363.12 Transportation hazards, as shown in the unsubdivided Relative Index entries:

Transportation accidents       363.12

Transportation safety           363.12

At 363.12 is the class-here note “Class here accidents.” Because class-here notes have hierarchical force, transportation accidents are also classed in appropriate subdivisions of 363.12.   

The interdisciplinary number for works on railroad accidents and on railroad safety is 363.122 Rail transportation, as shown in the unsubdivided Relative Index entries:

Railroad accidents       363.122

Railroad safety           363.122

Local rail transit systems do not approximate the whole of railroad transportation; consequently, works about accidents and safety in local rail transit are in standing room in 363.122, and nothing further can be added.  Examples of works classed in standing room at 363.122 are The Malbone Street Wreck, about a 1918 accident on the New York subway, and Light Rail Service: Pedestrian and Vehicular Safety.

Hate Crimes and Hate Crime Laws

Hate crimes and hate crime laws in the United States have been in the news recently, e.g., “Holocaust Museum Shooter James von Brunn Had History of Hate,” “Immigration Debate Tied to Rise in Hate Crimes,” and “Holder Tells Congress New Hate Crime Law Needed.”

A check of the Relative Index yields:

Hate crimes           364.15

The interdisciplinary number for hate crimes, as shown by the unsubdivided Relative Index entry, is 364.15 Offenses against the person.  In the schedule at 364.15 is the note: “Class here hate crimes.”  An example of a work classed in 364.15 is Hate Crimes.

Because the class-here note has hierarchical force, murder as a hate crime is classed in 364.1523 Murder.  An example of a work about murder as a hate crime is Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas. It is classed in 364.152309764159 Murder in Jasper County, Texas, built as shown:

364.1523    Murder
09               Geographic treatment (from Table 1)
764159       Jasper County (from Table 2, following instructions at

T1—093–T1—099 Treatment by specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds)

The number for hate crime laws is a built number that appears in the Relative Index:

Hate crimes—law       345.025

The number 345.025 Law of offenses against the person is built with base number 345.02 Crimes (Offenses) plus 5 from 364.15 Offenses against the person, following instructions at 345.023-345.028 Specific crimes and classes of crime.  An example of a work about United States law of hate crimes is Hate Crimes: Legal Issues and Legislation, classed in 345.73025 United States law of offenses against the person, built as shown:

345    Criminal law
73      United States (from Table 2, as instructed at 345.3–345.9

Specific jurisdictions and areas)

02      Crimes (Offenses) (from 345.02, as instructed at

345.3–345.9 Specific jurisdictions and areas)

5        Offenses against the person (from 364.15, as instructed at

 345.023–345.028).