025.431: The Dewey blog

Abridged Edition 15 in WebDewey

Last week, Geneva Norton posted the following question on the blog: "Why is the Abridged 15 not going to be a part of WebDewey?"  In the sense that Abridged Edition 15 is a logical abridgment of DDC 23, the new abridged edition is already in WebDewey.  If you have "Show Segmentation Mark" and "Show Segmentation Instruction" checked as "Show" under Preferences in WebDewey, you can determine the equivalent Abridged Edition 15 number.  We realize that it’s not always easy to decode the segmentation instructions; a project is under way to improve them.

We have decided not to continue with a separate version of WebDewey based on Abridged Edition 15 because of the small numbers of subscribers to the current abridged web product (less than 10% of the number of subscribers to the full version of WebDewey).  (In contrast, the total number of print copies of Abridged Edition 14 sold nearly matched the number of print sets of DDC 22 sold.)  Where does this decision leave current Abridged WebDewey users?  We are exploring a number of ways to make WebDewey hospitable to abridged users beyond the current segmentation information.  On March 19, there will be an invitational webinar aimed at current Abridged WebDewey subscribers to get feedback and address any concerns.  Current subscribers will be contacted directly by Libbie Crawford, Dewey Product Manager, with webinar registration information.  We’ll certainly share the outcomes from that meeting with blog readers.

 

Dewey at ALA Midwinter

It’s been two months since you’ve heard from the Dewey editorial team on the blog.  There’s a good reason for our silence: we’ve been working tirelessly on Abridged Edition 15.  Yesterday, we transmitted final corrections to the printer.  We’re looking forward to sharing a sneak preview of Abridged Edition 15 with attendees at the Dewey Breakfast/Update at ALA Midwinter this coming Saturday (21 January), 7:00–8:30 a.m., in the Omni Dallas Hotel, Greenville Avenue Room.  The program will also feature presentations on WebDewey 2.0 and DDC translations.  If you haven’t already done so, please register here. 

The ALCTS Public Libraries Technical Services Interest Group will meet in the same room directly following the Dewey Breakfast/Update.  See you in Dallas!

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.

EPC Meeting June 16-18, 2010

Meeting 133 of the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) was held June 16-18 at OCLC headquarters in Dublin, Ohio.  This was the last face-to-face meeting of EPC during calendar year 2010.  EPC scheduled two electronic meetings, 133A and 133B, to be held during the period July-August 2010.  Meeting 134, the next face-to-face meeting of the committee, will be held at OCLC in mid-June 2011.

In Table 1 (Standard Subdivisions), EPC approved a proposal to revise the three internal add tables in light of the updated policy on standard subdivisions with extended or narrowed meanings, and displaced standard subdivisions (the policy itself was discussed at Meeting 132 and approved at Meeting 132A).  EPC also reviewed and approved changes arising from application of the aforementioned policy in Table 3 (Subdivisions for the Arts, for Individual Literatures, for Specific Literary Forms); 368 Insurance; and 380 Commerce, Communications, Transportation.  EPC discussed updates to the add tables in 398 Folklore and 900 History, geography, and related disciplines but delayed action on them until Meeting 133A (here and elsewhere, postponement of action to Meeting 133A was planned before the meeting).

In Table 2 (Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Persons), EPC approved the developments for T2--494 Switzerland and T2--485-488 Sweden, plus the name change of T2--54912 North-West Frontier Province to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.  EPC reviewed the updates to Germany and neighboring countries and   to Turkey in the ancient and modern world, but delayed final action until Meeting 133A.

In Table 5 (Ethnic and National Groups) and Table 6 (Languages), EPC approved updated provisions for Finnic and Saami peoples and languages.  The interoperable expansion for Finnic peoples and languages prepared for inclusion in the Norwegian and Swedish translations sparked a lively discussion about the role of the English-language print edition in setting the notational framework for the standard version of the DDC.  EPC will explore this topic in depth at Meeting 134.

EPC approved selected updates in the following schedules: 004-006 Computer science; 281 Eastern churches (and changes related to Orthodox Christianity elsewhere in 200 Religion); 364.1 Criminal offenses (for terrorism); 640 Home and family management; 796 Athletic and outdoor sports and games; and 900 History, geography, and related disciplines.  In the last, EPC approved changes to the history of the ancient world; the history of Sweden; and wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lebanon.  EPC also discussed updates to the histories of Indonesia and Africa, and to countries whose historical periods are represented by decades; final action was delayed until Meeting 133A.

EPC discussed the following schedules, but delayed action on them until Meeting 133A: 340 Law; 370 Education; 390 Customs, etiquette, folklore; and 660 Chemical engineering and related technologies.  The full versions of Table 2 (Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Persons), 800 Literature and 900 History, geography, and related disciplines will be considered at Meeting 133A.

Several discussion papers were considered by the committee. In addition to ones informing the proposed developments in 340 Law and 370 Education, the committee considered a proposed update to historical periods and Hadith in 297 Islam, Babism, Bahai Faith.  We plan to introduce a full expansion of Islam in the 200 Religion class later next year after the publication of DDC 23 in print. Because the proposed revision for Hadith uses the revised historical periods and includes a relocation of Hadith from 297.124 to 297.125 with a significant revision and expansion under the latter number, we thought it best to speed review and approval of this portion of the 297 expansion for inclusion in the print version of DDC 23. Juli Beall posted a discussion paper here.  

Other matters considered by the committee included the placement of relocation and discontinuation notes at the end of class records in DDC 23, and proposed changes to the Introduction and Glossary in DDC 23.  EPC received a sneak preview of the final screens for WebDewey 2.0 (slated to be introduced in a few months).  The committee also heard progress reports on Dewey research, Dewey linked data, and Dewey translations.

The meeting featured a presentation on Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data (FRSAD)) by Prof. Marcia Lei Zeng (Kent State Unversity & Chair, IFLA Working Group on FRSAD), followed by a panel discussion on implications of the model for classification systems.  EPC member Jonathan Furner (UCLA) and Diane Vizine-Goetz (OCLC Research), both members of the IFLA WG, joined Marcia in the panel discussion.

The Dewey Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee

Standing from left to right: Welna van Eeden (University of South Africa), Deborah Rose-Lefmann (Northwestern University), Sandra Singh (University of British Columbia), David Farris (Library and Archives Canada), Lyn McKinney (Billings Senior High School, MT), Andrea Kappler (Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library, IN).

Seated from left to right: Karl Debus-Lopez (Library of Congress), EPC Chair Caroline Kent (British Library).Vice Chair Anne Robertson (Australian Committee on Cataloguing), Jonathan Furner (University of California Los Angeles)

-- Posted by Giles on behalf of Joan Mitchell

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.

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 130

The Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC)* held Meeting 130 at the Library of Congress November 18-19.  The meeting was chaired by Caroline Kent (British Library); Anne Robertson (Australian Committee on Cataloguing) was re-elected vice-chair for another two-year term. 

Prior to Meeting 130, EPC held an electronic pre-meeting, and approved updates to historical periods; modernization of the treatment of radio programs, motion pictures, and television programs regardless of method of distribution; and updates to 510 Mathematics.  All but the last will be distributed to users in early 2009.  EPC also approved, with minor modification, the long-planned updates to groups of people in Table 1 and 305-306—we plan to release the updates in mid-2009.

EPC discussed two sets of updates to Table 2 (Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Persons)—the conversion of the relocation information and corresponding changes in the reorganization of Scotland, England, and Wales presented in DDC 22; and further updates to the area table for Indonesia.  Both sets of changes require additional consultation with in-country groups.   EPC approved a final round of updates to Table 4 (Subdivisions of Individual Languages and Language Families, for Individual Literatures, for Specific Literary Forms), Table 5 (Ethnic and National Groups), and Table 6 (Languages)—most of the updates will be distributed to users in mid-2009.

In the schedules, EPC approved updates in the following areas: 001 Knowledge; 002 The book; 150 Psychology; 330 Economics; 390 Customs, etiquette, folklore; 400 Language (including the relocation of computational linguistics); 610 Medicine and health; 640 Home and family management; 650 Management and auxiliary services; 660 Chemical engineering & related technologies; 730 Sculpture and related arts; 740 Graphic arts and decorative arts; 750 Painting and paintings; 760 Printmaking and prints; 770.23 Photography as a profession, occupation, hobby; and 790 Recreational and performing arts. EPC also approved updates to the current historical periods in 947 Russia and 968 South Africa. Updates in many of these areas will be released during 2009.  EPC reviewed reports on work under way in 340 Law, and discussion papers on 370 Education and 780 Music. We will be seeking advice from users on a number of topics discussed at Meeting 130, including subjects in primary school curricula, language variations, meals, clothing, musical styles, and literary periods for Galician.

EPC reviewed several research initiatives from the OCLC Office of Research and the Dewey editorial team, plus draft guidelines for classifying photographs for the World Digital Library project—we’ll blog about these activities separately in the coming weeks.

On November 18, EPC held a special dinner in honor of assistant editor Winton Matthews and outgoing member Arlene Taylor.  Winton has indicated that he plans to retire in early 2009—we’ll share the resolution passed by EPC in his honor later on the occasion of his retirement.  Arlene Taylor served on EPC 2000–2008.  The committee's resolution honoring Arlene reads in part:

Whereas Arlene Taylor . . . participated in the development and review of Edition 22 (2003) and Abridged Edition 14 (2004) of the Dewey Decimal Classification, and in the publication of ongoing updates in WebDewey and Abridged WebDewey; . . . focused in particular on the needs of students and teachers of the DDC in her comments; . . . contributed “Teaching the Dewey Decimal Classification System” to a special issue of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly devoted to the DDC; . . . presented “Research in Knowledge Organization” at Meeting 116; . . . participated in the EPC planning retreat, “The Future of the Dewey Decimal Classification,” March 15-18, 2004, at OCLC;  . . . paid special attention to the treatment of groups of people, and in particular prompted improvements to the caption for people in early adulthood and the terminology for children of unmarried parents (the latter formerly “children born out of wedlock”);  . . . Be it resolved that the members of the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee here assembled at the One Hundred Thirtieth Meeting of said committee, the DDC editors, and staff at the Library of Congress Dewey Section and OCLC express to Arlene Taylor their deep gratitude and appreciation for her service and commitment to the Committee and the Classification, their regret that she will no longer be one of their number, and their wishes for her continued success and happiness now that she has retired from the Committee.

*Photo at top of EPC at LC on November 18, 2008—from left to right: Beacher Wiggins (Library of Congress), Vice Chair Anne Robertson (Australian Committee on Cataloguing), Welna van Eeden (University of South Africa), Sandra Singh (University of British Columbia), Lyn McKinney (Billings [MT] Senior High School), EPC Chair Caroline Kent (British Library), Andrea Kappler (Evansville Vanderburgh [IN] Public Library), Arlene Taylor (University of Pittsburgh SIS, retired), David Farris (Library and Archives Canada), and Deborah Rose-Lefmann (Northwestern University).

Groups of People: Last call for comments

On August 1, we asked for comments on the draft schedules and implementation plan for updates to groups of people in Table 1 and 305-306 (see here for the discussion plus links to the draft schedules). Today is the announced final day for comments—we’ll accept comments from stragglers through November 2. Next week, we will send the comments received to date plus our recommendations to the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) for consideration at EPC Meeting 130, November 18-19, 2008.

Groups of People in Table 1 and 305–306

Since late 2005, the Dewey editorial team has been working on a project to improve the representation of groups of people throughout the DDC. The project had the following goals:

• Study the treatment of groups of people throughout the DDC
• Update the terminology for groups of people (also reconsider terminology in Table 1 —09)
• Update the provisions for specific groups of people

We started the project with a reconsideration of the phrase “kinds of persons” in the caption at Table 1 —08 and elsewhere in the DDC. The phrase “kinds of persons” is currently used throughout the DDC to describe groups of people. Use of the phrase in Table 1 —08 causes confusion with “persons treatment” in Table 1 —092; more troubling is the unintended interpretation of “kinds of persons” as a definitive classification of people. As a first step, we replaced “kinds of persons” with “groups of people” in Table 1 —08 and elsewhere in the DDC. At the same time, we deleted “History and description with respect to” entirely from the caption at Table 1 —08 and elsewhere in the DDC. We also substituted “Groups of people” for “Social groups” in the caption at 305 and elsewhere in the DDC.

We have long known that “persons treatment” is a confusing phrase, and questioned whether there was any reason to continue using it in Table 1 —092. We changed the caption at Table 1 —092 to “Biography,” and made a slight revision to the caption at Table 1 —09 at the same time (now “History, geographic treatment, biography” instead of “Historical, geographic, persons treatment”).

We have adopted consistent use of “people” versus “persons” when we are referring to a group of people by a specific attribute, e.g., homeless people. In a few cases, the term “persons” has been retained when it is part of the common name for a group of people, e.g., “stateless persons.”

Similar changes to terminology have been introduced in the Relative Index. In addition, we have replaced the current “Persons” index array with three new entries: Person (Legal concept), Persons (Individuals), and People. The index term for groups of people in general is “People”; the general index term for individuals is “Persons (Individuals).”

We have made small adjustments throughout Table 1 and 305–306 in the developments for groups of people by specific attributes.  We wish to draw special attention to the following developments:

• Updated provisions for people by gender or sex at Table 1 —081 and 305.3 (including a new number for men at Table 1 —0811)
• A new development for transgender and intersex people at Table 1 —0867 and parallel changes to the development at 306.76 Sexual orientation, transgenderism, intersexuality
• Updated developments for people by marital status in Table 1 —0865 and marriage and family in 306.8
• Extensions to collected biography in Table 1 —092

Draft PDFs of the revised versions of the schedules for Table 1 —08–09 and 305–306 plus the Relative Index are now available for review. Relative Index entries are marked with the following internal codes: P (proposed new print/electronic entry), E (proposed new electronic-only entry), N (electronic-only entry), and I (intellectually mapped LCSH). Entries without codes are current print/electronic entries. In most cases, current Relative Index phrase entries in which the term “persons” has been replaced by “people” are also not accompanied by a code. The draft schedules have been produced directly from our editorial support system without further editing of the PDFs, and may contain some spacing problems that do not exist in the electronic version.

Timetable for Review and Implementation

The Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) has approved the updated developments in principle and has recommended that we introduce them into the DDC as soon as possible. At Meeting 129, EPC approved an implementation plan that includes a period of user comment, final approval, and implementation in 2009.

We are asking for comments on the draft schedules and implementation plan. Please reply directly to this blog entry (or alternatively to dewey@loc.gov) by October 30, 2008.  Receipt of comments by that date will facilitate discussion of user feedback and final action on the updated developments by EPC at Meeting 130 (November 18–19, 2008).  It is our current intention to implement the changes throughout the DDC and introduce them in WebDewey and Abridged WebDewey by second quarter calendar year 2009. We will also 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. There will be ripple effects elsewhere in the DDC that will not be addressed in the PDF versions; areas with substantial changes related to the treatment of groups of people (e.g., 150 Psychology, 362 Social welfare problems and services) will be featured as New and Changed Entries on the Dewey web site. 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).