025.431: The Dewey blog

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).

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.

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).

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.

Endangered Languages

Endangered languages have been in the news since the “United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) . . . launched an interactive electronic version of its atlas cataloguing some 2,500 endangered languages worldwide” (UNESCO press release), e.g., the Washington Post article “Preserving Languages Is About More Than Words.”

Interdisciplinary works on endangered languages are classed in 408.9 Treatment of language with respect to ethnic and national groups (built with 4 from 400 Language plus T1—089 Ethnic and national groups).  The interdisciplinary number for language and languages is 400 Language; it has unsubdivided Relative Index entries “Language” and “Languages” and the class-here note “Class here interdisciplinary works on language and literature.”  Standard subdivision T1—089 Ethnic and national groups has the note “Class here ethnic and national minorities.”  It is especially the languages spoken by minority groups that are endangered.  An example of a work classed in 408.9 is Endangered Languages: What Role for the Specialist?

By the rule of zero, works on a specific endangered language are classed with the language in 420-490 Specific languages.  For example, A Tarifit Berber-English Dictionary: Documenting an Endangered Language is classed in 493.3 Berber languages (built with 493 Non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic languages plus 3 from T6—933 Berber languages, as instructed at 493).  Tarifit Berber is also known as Rif language, and Rif is in the including note at T6—933 Berber languages; hence no further addition is possible. 

Sociological and anthropological works on endangered languages are classed in 306.44 Language, which has the note “Class here anthropological linguistics, ethnolinguistics, sociolinguistics.”  The number 306.44 is subordinate to 302–307 Specific topics in sociology and anthropology. An example of a work classed in 306.44 is Discourses of Endangerment: Ideology and Interest in the Defence of Languages.

In WebDewey the LCSH “Endangered languages” has been editorially mapped to both 408.9 Treatment of language with respect to ethnic and national groups and 306.44 Language.