025.431: The Dewey blog

Dewey at PLA

Libbie Crawford and I enjoyed sharing some of our ongoing developments—progress never stands still at Dewey!—at the Dewey Breakfast/Update at PLA 2012 in Philadelphia earlier this month.  Libbie gave a presentation on Dewey Products and Services in which she addressed the availability status of the latest set of print products (DDC 23—available, Abridged Edition 15 [A15]—available, 200 Religion Class—coming soon); in addition she summarized the set of enhancements that have recently been incorporated into WebDewey (e.g., icons for Manual notes and built numbers; history of numbers) or that will appear in WebDewey in the foreseeable future (e.g., user contribution / number building assistant).  Her presentation was sandwiched between presentations on A15 (Abridged Edition 15:  It’s Here!) and DDC 23 (DDC 23:  What’s New + Helpful Hints [not from Heloise]).  The former touched on some of the changes incorporated into A15, both those ranging across the system and those limited to specific subject areas; the presentation also explained the development process for generating A15.  The latter presentation addressed classifying works on evolving technologies, giving specific examples in the areas of digital photography and multifunctional digital devices; it also addressed how to classify works involving groups of people that are defined by more than a single attribute, with particular emphasis on the preference tables at 302-307, 362, and 362.74-.78. 

We invite everyone to take advantage of the availability of the presentations by using them for both review and learning.

Dewey Breakfast/Update at PLA

The Dewey Breakfast/Update will be held on Thursday, 15 March, 7:00 - 8:30 am, in Salons II - III, Courtyard by Marriott Philadelphia Downtown.  The program will feature an introduction to Abridged Edition 15, plus presentations on DDC 23 and recent enhancements to WebDewey 2.0.  If you haven't already done so, please register here.

This will be my first PLA.  So I am now issuing a special invitation to come and join us, so you can inform me about public library users of Dewey. For instance, how many of you use the abridged edition vs. how many of you use the full edition?  Come, be fed, be educated, and educate right back!

Abridged Edition 15 and DDC 23 Webinars

On 7 February, OCLC is hosting two thirty-minute free webinars on the new abridged and full editions of the DDC.  Each webinar is being presented live twice to accommodate the Dewey worldwide user community.  Rebecca Green will present “DDC Abridged 15 Sneak Preview” at 10:00 a.m. EST and 5:30 p.m. EST, and Julianne Beall will present “DDC 23 Update” at 11:00 a.m. EST and 6:30 p.m. EST.  Please register for either or both webinars using the link to the desired time slot for each. 

The presentations from the Dewey Breakfast/Update at the ALA Midwinter Meeting on 21 January are now available here.

 

 

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!

Dewey Events at IFLA 2011

OCLC is sponsoring two important Dewey events in conjunction with the 2011 World Library and Information Conference (IFLA 2011) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in August 2011.

A DDC 23 training workshop will be held immediately preceding IFLA 2011 on 12 August at Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Registration (with a link to the agenda) is open at http://registration.oclc.org/reg/?pc=DDC23IFLAwkshp. 

The International Dewey Users Meeting (formerly known as the Dewey Translators Meeting) is scheduled for Tuesday, 16 August, 9:00–11:00, Room 202A, Puerto Rico Convention Center.  The agenda will include highlights of DDC 23, additional proposed expansions to 297.1-297.8 Islam, features and planned enhancements to WebDewey 2.0, recent developments in the MARC 21 formats concerning DDC data, extensions to Dewey linked data, and an update from OCLC Research.  Registration will be available on the OCLC IFLA web site the week of July 11.  You may also contact me directly to register at mitchelj@oclc.org.

Dewey at the ALA Annual Conference

Register here for Dewey Breakfast/Update on Saturday, 25 June, 7:00–8:30 am, in the Hilton Riverside Hotel, Marlborough Rooms A/B. The program will feature presentations on DDC 23, WebDewey 2.0, DDC-based discovery tools prototyped by OCLC Research, and the use of new and proposed DDC fields in MARC 21 formats. The ALCTS Public Libraries Technical Services Interest Group will meet in the same room directly following the Dewey Breakfast/Update.

Juli Beall is among the speakers at the program “Children’s Cataloger’s Sandbox: Using Tools of Cataloging Correctly for Kids, 5^th edition” on Sunday, 26 June, 4:00–5:30 pm, Morial Convention Center, Room 285. She will address tools for assigning Dewey numbers to children’s materials.

Finally, I’ll present “DDC 23 in Context” during the meeting of ALCTS CCS Subject Analysis Committee meeting, Monday, 27 June, Hilton Riverside, Grand Salon C. The meeting runs 1:30-5:30 p.m.; my presentation is scheduled to begin around 3:00 p.m.

 

DDC 23 Webinar

The “DDC 23: Sneak Preview” webinar presented twice on March 10 (and attended by 800+ Dewey users from around the world) is now available for playback or download here.  We will address some of the questions submitted by webinar participants over the next few weeks on this blog, starting tomorrow with an answer to the question about Option B in 340 Law.  Stay tuned!

DDC 23: A Sneak Preview

I’ll be presenting two 30-minute webinars next week to provide a sneak preview of DDC 23, the new print edition of the Dewey Decimal Classification that is currently in final production.  Each webinar includes the same content and will address the following topics:

• Major changes across DDC 23
• Selected major updates
• Selected new numbers
• The role of the worldwide community of Dewey users
• How to learn more about DDC 23

The webinar is being offered twice on 10 March 2011 (11 March 2011 in some time zones) to accommodate participants across the worldwide Dewey community.  Please register now to attend one of the free, live sessions using the links below:

                DDC 23: A Sneak Preview, 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (U.S.) 

                DDC 23: A Sneak Preview, 3:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (U.S.)

Dewey Breakfast/Update at ALA Midwinter 2011

Please join us for the Dewey Breakfast/Update at the ALA Midwinter Meeting on Saturday, January 8, 7:00–8:00 a.m., Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel, Sapphire Ballroom A.  The  program will feature a demonstration of WebDewey 2.0 (it’s here!), practical applications of our linked data web service dewey.info, and a sneak preview of DDC 23.  The ALCTS Public Libraries Technical Services Interest Group will meet in the same room directly following the Dewey Breakfast/Update.

If you haven’t done so already, please register for the meeting here.  See you in San Diego!

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.