WebDewey 2.0 Enhancements

WebDewey 2.0 users, be ready for a nice surprise when you log in today.  We have introduced some major enhancements plus cosmetic improvements that we hope will delight and excite you as much as they do the Dewey team.  Over the next few days we’ll be discussing the variety of improvements and new features that you’ll find in the system, but let’s start today with the two big ones, 1) the history of numbers and 2) improved identification of built numbers and Manual notes.

We have had the history of numbers codified in our internal DDC data files going back to DDC 20 (1989), but we have never had a way to make this deep historical information routinely available to users until now.  Starting today, WebDewey users will be able to access the contents of any MARC 21 685 History Note field associated with a particular class by clicking on arrow in the right-hand corner of the History box on the record display page.  For example, look at the class record for 005.3.  If you open the History box (click on the arrow in the right-hand corner of the box), you’ll see the following information:

General purpose application programs relocated to 005.5
2003, Edition 22

(We reformatted the underlying MARC 21 representation to make it more readable; in our internal database, we have the following version of the same information coded in a 685 field:  685 20  $t General purpose application programs $i relocated to $a 005.5 $d 2003 $2 22 $9 ess=685.)

If you click on the link to 005.5, that link will take you directly to the record display for 005.5.  Open the History box and you will find additional information about the history of 005.5:

formerly located in 005.3
2003, Edition 22

Specific programs with interdisciplinary applications formerly located in 005.3042
2003, Edition 22

There’s one other major change in today’s installation: the inclusion of new icons to identify built numbers and Manual notes.  Built numbers are represented by a puzzle piece icon; Manual notes are represented by a book icon.  Both types of icons are included in search results.  For example, the search results for a search on 005.3 include the Manual note 005.3 (identified with the book icon) and the built number 005.3742 (identified with the puzzle piece icon).  The puzzle piece icon also is used to identify built numbers in browse results.  On the individual record display screen, the Manual icon appears next to the number and caption for the Manual note (for example, look at the Manual note for 005.3).   In hierarchical displays for built numbers, the puzzle piece icon can appear anywhere in the hierarchical display for the number.  For example, display the record for 338.47004 Computer industry.  In the hierarchical display, the built number icon appears next to 338.47004, and also next to two built numbers in the downward hierarchy, 338.4700411 and 338.470046.  (If you don’t see the icons associated with the aforementioned examples, it may be because relevant information has been cached in your browser.  If you want to see the icons immediately and do not want to wait until the cache is refreshed, you can press <ctrl> + <F5> inside a WebDewey screen associated with one of the examples, which will cause your browser to reload the cached information.)

We’d love to hear from WebDewey users about the usefulness of these new features.  We’re especially interested in learning more about how you might make use of the history information.

Stay tuned for more information about recent and planned improvements to WebDewey! 

Comments

[Janet Harmon]

Ever since this enhancement was installed there seems to be a bug with browse searching. You can browse once sucessfully but the next time pressing return does not work nor does mousing on the "Quick Browse" button. Ironically if you press "Page down" the search will work. Any ideas?

Janet Harmon
Columbus Metropolitan Library
Columbus, Ohio

[wendy]

Just a random question here. I run a book club for teens, and we wanted to know why the dewey decimal system does not use the 040. We have researched, and asked a few university librarians, but they direct us to you. Why is this number un assigned?

[Giles Martin]

040 was used until the 16th Edition (1958) for "General collected essays". In Edition 17 (1965) 040 was relocated to 080 (General collections and anthologies), presumably because materials classed in 040 and 080 were too similar, and it was hard to distinguish. Since then there's been no major topic that would need to fit into the "general" topics in 001-099, except for computer science, which fitted better into 004-006, and I suspect that there never will be a topic that fits well between general encyclopedias at 030 and general periodicals at 050.

(Please note that I'm speaking personally here, not for the Dewey Editorial Team.)

[Joanne Doucet]

I'm having trouble with the "Add to" component in the Notes section within the schedules. In the last version of WebDewey, the range of numbers in the Notes section was a link that you could click on, be put into the range, and then take the numbers you needed to append to your Dewey number. In this version of WebDewey the range is no longer a link and I can't figure out how to get to that range of numbers. For example, under the base number, 387.2, there is a number range, 387.21 - 387.29, representing Specific Types of Ships. I click on this range and then in the Notes section see the following direction: Add to...the numbers following...in 623.821-623.829. But this range is not a link. How do I get to this range of numbers in this version of WebDewey?

[Giles Martin]

Joanne Doucet, the easiest thing to do is to search on the Dewey number at the top of the number range that you are using for number building. In this case, search on 623.82, and WebDewey displays the hierarchy below that number. To find a specific topic, you'll need to explore under 623.821 Ancient and medieval craft, and 623.822-623.829 Modern craft (the latter being a number range with another range -- 623.823-623.828 Power-driven craft -- subordinate to it.

Another possibility is to search for a specific topic as a keyword search, or in the Relative Index, trying to find that topic in the range you are interested in. For example, you could look for "fishing boats" as a keyword search, and you'll find 632.8282 in the right range, so you can use that for number building.