One Zero or Two?

We have been asked, why do I sometimes find 821.008 used for collections of English poetry, sometimes 821.08?

Before DDC 17 was published in 1965, 821.08 meant collections of English poetry.

After publication of DDC 17, 821.008 meant collections of English poetry, and 821.08 meant English light and ephemeral verse, including greeting card verse.  Many libraries, however, kept using 08 instead of 008 for collections of poetry.  They made very little use of 08 for light and ephemeral verse. 

With publication of DDC 22 in 2003, 821.08 became obsolete.  Light verse was relocated to 821.07, joining the humorous and satirical poetry already there.  Ephemeral verse that is not light or humorous, and greeting card verse, were moved to the base number 821.  821.008 continues to mean collections of English poetry.

The number 821.008 Collections of English poetry is built with 82 (following the instruction at 820.1-828 Subdivisions of English literature) plus 100 (following the instruction at T3B--1001-T3B--1009 Standard subdivisions; collections; history, description, critical appraisal) plus 8 Collections of literary texts from the add table at T3B--1-T3B--8 Specific forms. 

We know these instructions can be confusing; for that reason, we supply many built-number examples in WebDewey that you can copy or use as a model. For example, if you browse in WebDewey for 821 you will find these and other built numbers:
821   English poetry 
821.008   English poetry--collections 
821.00803543   Love--poetry--English literature--collections, . . . 
821.0080355   English poetry--social themes--collections, . . . 
821.008036   English poetry--nature--collections, . . . 
821.0080382   English poetry--religious themes--collections, . . . 
821.009   English poetry--history and criticism 
821.04   English poetry--lyric poetry, . . . 
821.0708   Humorous poetry--English literature--collections, . . . 

Comments

[kpli]

thanks for the lovely and meaningful post...;)