025.431: The Dewey blog

Updates: Selected Topics in 297.1-.8 Islam

297.122    Koran
297.14      Religious and ceremonial laws and decisions
297.352    Mecca
297.81      Sunnites
297.82      Shiites

Updates for selected topics in 297.1-.8 Islam have been published in 200 Religion Class and in WebDewey.  The new provisions can be found by clicking "Updates" on the login page or other pages in WebDewey; the file is named 297_20120501_DDC23.  Most of the provisions were made available for review in an earlier version announced in a previous blog. The exception is an expansion to provide for two groups of Shiites:

297.8251 'Alawīs (Alawites)
297.8252 Alevis

Most of the new numbers will be used primarily by libraries with large collections on Islam.  That is probably true of the largest area of expansion and revision, for 297.122 Koran.  That is probably also true of the expansion at 297.14 Religious and ceremonial laws and decisions for schools of Islamic law.  The expansion, which can now be used for fiqh al-'ibādāt (rituals law), will also provide notation that can be used to facilitate work that is underway to make 340 Law more hospitable for Islamic law. The main change to 297.81 Sunnites is relocation of four groups that the Arabic translation team recommended be treated as schools of law rather than as Islamic sects; Hanafites, Shafiites, Malikites, and Hanbalites are now all classed in subdivisions of 297.14018 Schools of law.

The update includes a small expansion that may be more widely used, at 297.352 Mecca:

297.3524 Hajj
297.3525 Umrah (Lesser pilgrimage to Mecca)

Hajj Stories is an example of a work that can be classed in 297.3524 Hajj (or, since it is a juvenile work, it could be classed in the unchanged abridged number: 297.3 Islamic worship.)  The Ultimate Guide to Umrah: Based on the Famous Book Getting the Best Out of Hajj: With Special Chapters on Umrah in Ramadaan and Visiting Madinah is an example of a work that can be classed in the new number 297.3525 Umrah (Lesser pilgrimage to Mecca). 

200 Religion Class

200 Religion Class, the last publication in the Dewey print-edition trilogy that began in 2011 (the other two are DDC 23 and Abridged Edition 15), is now available.  200 Religion Class includes an updated version of the 200 Religion schedule and the Manual notes for 200 Religion, an updated and extended index to 200 Religion, and the 170 Ethics schedule. The updates are also available in WebDewey.  Ordering information for the three print editions plus WebDewey is available here.

In DDC 23, we updated the provisions for the Orthodox Church, initiated updates for Islam, and introduced several changes elsewhere in 200 Religion.  200 Religion Class contains those changes, plus additional updates for Islam and a number of minor updates elsewhere in 200 that were not ready for publication in the print DDC 23. (My colleague Juli Beall will describe the changes to Islam in detail in an upcoming blog entry.)

Another exciting feature of 200 Religion Class is an optional arrangement for the Bible and specific religions based on a chronological/regional view.  For some time now, we have been exploring the development of an alternative view of 200 Religion to reduce Christian bias in the standard notational sequence for the Bible and specific religions.  In cooperation with Ia C. McIlwaine (University College London, and the former editor in chief of the Universal Decimal Classification [UDC]) we have prepared a chronological/regional view of the Bible and specific religions based on a similar development introduced in the UDC in 2000.  The new optional arrangement appears in appendix A of the print version of 200 Religion Class, and in a new Manual note at 220-290 Optional arrangement for the Bible and specific religions in WebDewey.  A virtual browser based on the new optional arrangement and linked to Dewey-classified resources in WorldCat.org will be available on the Dewey web site in mid-2012.

Selected Topics in 297.1-.8 Islam: Draft for comment by August 12, 2011

297.122    Koran
297.14      Religious and ceremonial laws and decisions
297.352    Mecca
297.81      Sunnites

As noted in earlier blog entries (here and here), we have been working with the Arabic DDC translation team based at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, especially with Ossama Mahmoud and Iman Khairy, on expansions and revisions to 297 for Islam.  Changes in 297.09 History, geographic treatment, biography and 297.125 Hadith (Traditions) [formerly  297.124] were published in DDC 23.  A new draft of selected topics in 297.1-.8 Islam is available for review on the discussion page of the Dewey web site.  The changes proposed in this draft, once approved, will be exposed in connection with the separate publication of the 200 Religion Class and in WebDewey. 

In this draft the largest area of expansion and revision is for 297.122 Koran.  At 297.14  Religious and ceremonial laws and decisions is an expansion for schools of Islamic law.  The expansion is important in 297 for fiqh al-ʻibādāt (rituals law); it will also be helpful for future plans to make 340 Law more hospitable for Islamic law. There is a small expansion at 297.352 Mecca; the other numbers under 297.35 Sacred places and pilgrimages are given for context.  The main change to 297.81 Sunnites is relocation of four groups that the Arabic translation team recommended be treated as schools of law rather than as Islamic sects; the other subdivisions of 297.8 Islamic sects and reform movements are given for context. 

We seek comments on the draft:
•    Does the proposed draft provide a general framework that can be used for organization of and access to diverse collections throughout the world?
•    Can you help us improve the English descriptions for Arabic terms?
•    Do the Relative Index entries provide appropriate access to the development?

Please comment directly to this blog entry or by one of the alternative methods given with the draft by August 12, 2011.

Historical Periods of Islam; Hadith (Revised Draft for Comment)

297.09 History, geographic treatment, biography
297.125 Hadith (Traditions) [formerly 297.124]

We just posted a revised draft for comment on proposed changes to the developments for Hadith and the historical periods of Islam.  This draft supersedes the earlier draft mentioned in previous posts (see here and here). 

Please comment directly to this blog entry or by one of the alternative methods given with the draft by September 15.  EPC will begin voting on the revised draft on September 20, and your input is valuable to the committee and the Dewey editorial team.

International Dewey Users Meeting

OCLC will host the annual International Dewey Users Meeting (formerly known as the Dewey Translators Meeting) in conjunction with the World Library and Information Congress (76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly) in Göteborg, Sweden.  The meeting will be held Friday, 13 August, 16:00-18:00, in Swedish Conference Centre, Meeting Room J2.  The agenda includes presentations on WebDewey 2.0, the Swedish mixed translation, the expansion of 297 Islam under way in cooperation with the Arabic translation team, and activities of the European DDC Users’ Group.  Please register here by 4 August if you plan to attend the meeting.

Historical Periods of Islam; Hadith

Draft for Comment by August 1, 2010
297.09 History, geographic treatment, biography
297.125 Hadith (Traditions) [formerly 297.124]

We have been working with the Arabic DDC translation team based at Bibliotheca Alexandrina on expansions and revisions to 297 for Islam. Most of the changes will not be ready in time to affect DDC 23 (scheduled to be published in mid-2011); instead, most will be exposed in connection with the separate publication of the 200 Religion Class and in WebDewey.

One area in which we have been working with the translation team (especially with Ossama Mahmoud and Iman Khairy) is an expansion for Hadith (Traditions), now at 297.124. Since there is no way to expand for Hadith in 297.124 without immediate reuse of numbers, we propose to relocate Hadith to 297.125 Hadith (Traditions). Because of the relocation, we believe that the expansion should be included in DDC 23 if possible.

We have also been working with the Arabic translation team on revising the historical periods for Islam as a religion under 297.09 History, geographic treatment, biography, making them more specific to the history of Islam in much the same way as we did in DDC 22 for the history of Judaism under 296.09 Historical, geographic, persons treatment. The focus is on historical periods important in religious history; caliphates primarily important for political history are not used to structure the proposed development. We would like to introduce the revised development under 297.09 in DDC 23 so that the new history periods can be used with the new development for Hadith. (Note: The new caption for T1—09 History, geographic treatment, biography in DDC 23 is shown in the draft schedule: “History, geographic treatment, biography” instead of “Historical, geographic, persons treatment.” See this 2008 Dewey blog entry for explanation. Additional changes have been made elsewhere in the referenced draft schedules since 2008.)

The draft for historical periods of Islam at 297.09 and Hadith at 297.125 is available for review on the discussion page of the Dewey web site. We seek comments:
•    Does the proposed draft provide a general framework for the historical periods of Islam as a religion and for Hadith that can be used for organization of and access to diverse collections throughout the world?
•    Can you help us improve the English descriptions for Arabic terms?
•    If the proposed schedule is included in DDC 23, would your library use the full numbers
for Hadith?
•    Do the Relative Index entries provide appropriate access to the development?

Please comment directly to this blog entry or by one of the alternative methods given with the draft by August 1, 2010.

Dewey Breakfast/Update at ALA Midwinter 2010: Presentations + 370 Education Discussion Paper

The presentations from the Dewey Breakfast/Update on January 16, 2010, at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston are now available on the Dewey web site at http://www.oclc.org/dewey/news/conferences/default.htm.

Libbie Crawford gave a general DDC product update, and discussed the new screen layouts and features in WebDewey 2.0. Juli Beall presented work to date on improvements to 281.5-281.9 Eastern churches and 340 Law. Proposed changes to the development for 281 Eastern churches are currently out for an initial round of review with a group of experts in Orthodox Christianity. (Note: Rebecca Green is the lead editor on this work, but did not attend ALA.) Juli is working closely with the European DDC Users’ Group (EDUG) 340 Law Working Group on improvements to 340 Law to address European Union law, criminal courts and procedures, and general issues related to legal systems based on civil law.

I discussed our work on 370 Education. For several years, we have been studying improvements to 370 Education to make the schedule a more useful general framework for the organization of education in a global context. We have focused initially on two areas in the 370 Education schedule: primary education in specific subjects (372.3-372.8) and levels of education (372-374, 378). To date, we have received advice from the EDUG 370 Education Working Group, members of the American Association of School Librarians, and the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC). There is a discussion paper available on the Dewey web site that describes our current proposals. The revisions proposed in the paper are still preliminary, and subject to further development and review. We are seeking comments on the proposed revisions and open questions in the paper by February 27, 2010—interested parties can comment directly here on the blog, or e-mail their comments to me at mitchelj@oclc.org.

I also gave a quick update on the project under way with the OCLC Research to create a BISAC authority file and add Dewey numbers to the records. Michael Panzer wrapped up the meeting with a demonstration of some applications of the current set of Dewey linked data available at dewey.info. He also discussed our plans to link Table 2 (Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Persons) records with FAST geographic headings—besides the usefulness of additional terminology, the Table 2-FAST links will be a path to associate geographic coordinates with Table 2 records (records for FAST geographic headings include geographic coordinates algorithmically assigned from GeoNames). Exciting stuff!

The next Dewey Breakfast/Update will be held in conjunction with the Public Libraries Association 13th National Conference in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, March 25, 7:00-8:00 a.m. (place to be announced). Mark the date—we expect lots of new developments over the next two months!

EPC Meeting 132

Giles Martin took the photo of EPC at LC on November 17, 2009. From left to right: Karl Debus-López (Library of Congress, standing in for Beacher Wiggins), Jonathan Furner (UCLA), Welna van Eeden (University of South Africa), Lyn McKinney (Billings [MT] Senior High School), Deborah Rose-Lefmann (Northwestern University), Sandra Singh (University of British Columbia), EPC Vice-Chair Anne Robertson (Australian Committee on Cataloguing), EPC Chair Caroline Kent (British Library), Andrea Kappler (Evansville Vanderburgh [IN] Public Library), and David Farris (Library and Archives Canada).

Meeting 132 of the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) was held November 16-17 at the Library of Congress. EPC Chair Caroline Kent (British Library) was re-elected for a second two-year term as chair.

In Table 1 (Standard Subdivisions), EPC approved a proposal to recast T1—0286 Waste technology as T1—0286 Green technology (Environmental technology). In Table 2 (Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Persons), EPC gave provisional approval to the revision of Asia Minor and Turkey, and requested additional literary warrant information before approving the expansion for Switzerland.

EPC approved selected updates in the following schedules: 004-006 Computer science; 320 Political science; 361-365 Social problems and services; 390 Customs, etiquette, folklore; 400 Language; 569 Fossil mammals and 599 Mammals; 636 Animal husbandry; 646 Sewing, clothing; 690 Buildings; 720 Architecture; 800 Literature and rhetoric; and various historical periods in 900. EPC also reviewed and approved the full schedules for 670 Manufacturing and 680 Manufacture of products for special uses.

Several discussion papers were considered by the committee. One discussion paper addressed current and proposed practices related to representation and use of standard subdivisions with extended or narrowed meanings, and displaced standard subdivisions. Our investigation of such subdivisions was prompted by two streams of inquiry—a set of questions posed by a group of Dewey Section classifiers preparing training materials (Michael Cantlon, Carolyn Turner, and Ruby Woodard), and our ongoing review of practices related to the representation of standard subdivisions in add tables. EPC approved the discussion paper on 281 Eastern churches for external review. We are seeking advice immediately from the Arabic, Greek, and Russian translation teams; we will also be seeking advice from other experts in Orthodox Christianity. Yvonne Jahns (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek), chair of the European DDC Users’ Group (EDUG) 340 Law Working Group, was a guest attendee at the meeting. She participated in the extensive discussion of various 340 Law discussion papers; the full 340 Law schedule will be considered at Meeting 133. Yvonne also presented “20 years SWD: German subject authority data prepared for the future.” EPC considered another set of discussion papers, including one from the EDUG 370 Education Working Group, focused on the 370 Education schedule. EPC reviewed revised proposals for updates to 372.3-372.8 Elementary education in specific subjects, and updates to levels of education in 372, 373, and 378. The full 370 Education schedule will also be considered at Meeting 133.

EPC also heard progress reports on Dewey linked data, mixed translation models, and ongoing efforts to use machine assistance in the development of the abridged edition. Thanks to the efforts of EPC member Welna van Eeden, a representation of the DDC Summaries in Afrikaans was added last week to dewey.info (Afrikaans is the tenth language represented in the service).

EPC scheduled a follow-up electronic Meeting 132A (to be held February 1-26, 2010), during which the committee will review the Editorial Rules for standard subdivisions; further work on the machine-assisted abridged model; updates to T1—0288 Maintenance and repair to address issues raised at Meeting 131; updates to the Table 2 provisions for Asia Minor, Turkey, and Switzerland; a possible expansion at 746.92 Costume to match similar provisions for clothing and accessories elsewhere; the updated history periods for Africa based on comments from outside reviewers; and minor updates proposed by the Swedish translation team. If necessary, we will split the meeting into two parts and schedule Electronic Meeting 132B (possibly as a webinar) at a later date. Meeting 133 will be held June 16-18, 2010, at OCLC headquarters in Dublin, Ohio.

EPC Meeting 131

Giles Martin took the photo of EPC at OCLC on June 12, 2009.  Standing, from left to right: Andrea Kappler (Evansville Vanderburgh [IN] Public Library), Sandra Singh (University of British Columbia), Lyn McKinney (Billings [MT] Senior High School), and Welna van Eeden (University of South Africa); seated, from left to right: Karl Debus-López (Library of Congress, standing in for Beacher Wiggins), David Farris (Library and Archives Canada), EPC Vice-Chair Anne Robertson (Australian Committee on Cataloguing), and Deborah Rose-Lefmann (Northwestern University).

It seems like forever since I’ve written something here, and I’m suppressing the urge to report chronologically on my activities since the last time you heard from me (so stay tuned for reports on three very interesting meetings [one in Houston and two in Vienna] in which I participated back in April).  Today, I’m jumping forward to last week with a quick summary of Meeting 131 of the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC), which was held June 10-12 at OCLC.  The meeting was chaired by EPC Vice-Chair Anne Robertson (Australian Committee on Cataloguing).  EPC Chair Caroline Kent (British Library) and new EPC member Jonathan Furner (UCLA [and yes, former DDC assistant editor and creator of 025.431: The Dewey blog]) were unable to attend in person, but e-mailed voluminous comments that were considered by the committee during the meeting.

EPC reviewed the full version of Table 1 (Standard Subdivisions).  One provision was postponed for discussion at Meeting 132 in November 2009: the use of T1—0286 Waste technology to represent green technology.  We'll have more to say about that issue once we sort out the ripple effects throughout the schedules.  In Table 2 (Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Persons), EPC looked mostly to the past in reviewing provisions for the ancient world in T2—3.  Some of the ancient world proposals have implications for the modern world versions of the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, Asia Minor, and Turkey.  EPC also approved some adjustments to German administrative units proposed by colleagues at Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, plus the placement of the Barents Sea region, North Calotte, and Sápmi (Lapland).  EPC approved the full version of Table 3 (Subdivisions for the Arts, for Individual Literatures, for Specific Literary Forms), and an expansion for Hakka (Han Chinese who speak Hakka dialect) in Table 5 (Ethnic and National Groups).

EPC approved updates in the following schedules: 004-006 Computer science, 200 Religion, 300 Social sciences, 301-307 Sociology and anthropology, 320 Political science, 330 Economics, 340 Law, 400 Language, 610 Medicine and health, 780 Music, 800 Literature, and 960 History of Africa.  EPC reviewed preliminary versions of 640 Home and family management, 690 Buildings, 710 Civic and landscape art, and 720 Architecture.  On the recommendation of EPC, we plan to post the sewing and clothing sections of 646 shortly for outside comment.  EPC also reviewed a preliminary proposal for updates to sections of 372.3-372.8 Elementary education in specific subjects.  In addition to comments from members and observers on the private EPC mailing list, EPC’s deliberations were informed by reports from the working groups associated with the European DDC Users’ Group (EDUG) in the areas of law, education, archaeology, and technical issues.

EPC reviewed several research initiatives from the OCLC Office of Research and the Dewey editorial team, plus the latest draft specification for Dewey Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs).  We’ll be back with more information on these initiatives later.

EPC scheduled a follow-up electronic Meeting 131A (to be held August 3-28, 2009), during which the committee will address use of the term “encompassing” in the DDC, plus minor issues in 400, 710, and 780.  Meeting 132 will be held November 16-17, 2009, at the Library of Congress.

One other major Dewey event took place last week—June 12 was the last day for updating Dewey data in the current Editorial Support System (ESS).  The new ESS, along with new data formats based on the MARC classification and authority formats, is scheduled to be launched on July 5 (another reason for our recent periods of silence on this blog).  Rebecca wrote a bit about the new ESS last month—watch for more reports shortly.

EPC Meeting 129

The Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC)* met at OCLC May 7-9, 2008. EPC approved several adjustments to the proposed overhaul of the treatment of groups of people (including a separate number for intersex people based on feedback from users) plus the implementation plan for the changes. The current plan is to post draft versions of Table 1 and 305-306 on the Dewey web site in August 2008 (with links from the Dewey blog). We will request comments on the content and implementation plan by October 30, 2008—this will permit discussion of user comments at EPC Meeting 130 in November 2008. It is our intention to introduce the changes to the treatment of groups of people throughout the DDC by second quarter calendar year 2009 in WebDewey and Abridged WebDewey. We plan to make final PDFs of Table 1 and 305-306 available on the Dewey web site at the same time the changes are implemented in the web versions of the DDC. The changes introduced in the web versions of the DDC will also appear in the print version of DDC 23 (scheduled to be published in late calendar year 2010).

In addition to the changes to groups of people in Table 1, EPC approved two changes to T1—079 Competition, awards, financial support: clarification of the add instruction from Table 2, and the relocation of festivals from T1—079 to T1—074 Museums, collections, exhibits. Watch this space for more information on these changes. EPC also approved several changes in Table 2 (Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Persons) for Belgium, South Africa, Sweden, and Clifton Forge, Va. (the last reflects a rare change within administrative units in the U.S.).  In Table 3 (Subdivisions for the Arts, for Individual Literatures, for Specific Literary Forms), EPC approved new provisions for autobiographical fiction, biographical fiction, and alternative histories.  In Table 6 (Languages), EPC approved updates to Indonesian languages and Galician, plus several miscellaneous updates. Similar changes were made to parallel notation in Table 5 (Ethnic and National Groups).

In the schedules, EPC approved updates in the following areas: 004-006 Computer science, 025.4 Subject analysis and control, 160 Logic, 320 Political science, 364.16 Offenses against property, 398.2 Folk literature, 400 Language, 510 Mathematics, 560-590 Life sciences, 610 Medicine and health, 700 The arts, 800 Literature, and 900 History, geography, and auxiliary disciplines. EPC also reviewed reports on work under way in 200 Religion, 340 Law, and 370 Education. The changes in 364.16, along with other updates to the treatment of criminal offenses, will be the focus of the June New and Changed Entries. We will discuss the proposed updates and open issues in several of the aforementioned schedules in the coming weeks in the Dewey blog—stay tuned.

EPC reviewed several research initiatives from the OCLC Office of Research and the Dewey editorial team. Diane Vizine-Goetz presented current work on a prototype classification web service and pilot terminology services. Dewey editorial team members presented progress reports on several current research projects: machine-assisted derivation of the abridged edition, mixed translation models, identification of the relationship of Relative Index terms to Dewey classes, and improvements to Dewey captions. The team also briefed EPC on our new editorial support system, recent changes to the representation of the DDC in MARC21 formats, and a proposed new approach to the display of relocations and discontinuations in DDC class records. Further, the team gave EPC a progress report on the development of DDC training materials being posted online. There was also a lively discussion on how we might facilitate development and sharing of “Dewey neighborhoods” by Dewey users (see the innovative presentation by the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library at the March 2008 Public Library Association (PLA) Conference).

EPC will hold a follow-up electronic meeting (Meeting 129A) during June 2008 to resolve some minor open issues from Meeting 129. The group will meet next in person at the Library of Congress in November 2008.

*Photo at top of EPC at OCLC on May 8, 2008—standing from left to right: Lyn McKinney (Billings [MT] Senior High School), Sandra Singh (Vancouver [BC] Public Library), David Farris (Library and Archives Canada), Welna van Eeden (University of South Africa), Andrea Kappler (Evansville Vanderburgh [IN] Public Library) and EPC Chair Caroline Kent (British Library). Seated from left to right: Arlene Taylor (University of Pittsburgh SIS, retired), Vice Chair Anne Robertson (Australian Committee on Cataloguing), and Deborah Rose-Lefmann (Northwestern University).