025.431: The Dewey blog

New Face at Dewey Manor

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Rebecca Green joined OCLC today as assistant editor, Dewey Decimal Classification.  Most recently, Rebecca was an associate professor at the University of Maryland, where she had been a member of the faculty of the College of Information Studies since 1989.  Her teaching and research interests include knowledge organization, database design, classification theory, knowledge representation, and linguistic applications in information retrieval.

Rebecca has a PhD and MS in Computer Science, and a PhD and MLS in Library and Information Services, all from the University of Maryland.  She also has an MA in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and an AB, magna cum laude, in Music from Harvard University.  Rebecca has authored over forty scholarly publications, and is an active member of the Association for Computational Linguistics and the International Society for Knowledge Organization. She also serves on the editorial board of Knowledge Organization. 

Rebecca is based in the Dewey Editorial Office at the Library of Congress.  Please join us in welcoming Rebecca to Dewey Manor!

Making Dewey visible

While at ALA Midwinter in Seattle, the editors of Dewey made several visits to the magnificent Seattle Public Library building.  This is an extremely innovative building designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.  Within the building, on levels 6 to 9, there is a "Books Spiral", with Dewey numbers on the floor of the spiral to help library users find there way around.  In the web page just cited there is a quotation from Nicolai Ouroussoff: "The stacks, arranged along a continuous spiral ramp contained within a four-story slab, reinforce a sense of a world organized with machine-like precision." At Dewey Manor, we like arrangement by Dewey numbers being described as "machine-like precision."

Within the library is a area called the Mixing Chamber, for reference and research, and this includes an installation called "Making Visible the Invisible" -- this consists of 6 computer screens which continuously display, in various formats, the Dewey numbers of the items being checked out of the library.  These numbers, their captions and item titles are animated in various ways to form an ever-changing display of words and numbers moving on the computer screens.

Of course, the Dewey editors could not resist gathering in front of "Making Visible the Invisible" and having their picture taken.

General works about the Seattle Public Library are classed in 027.4797772 Public libraries in Seattle, which is built by adding to 027.4 Public libraries the notation T2--797772 Seattle (following the instructions at 027.43-027.49).  Works about the architecture of Seattle Public Library are classed in727.809797772 Library buildings in Seattle.  And works on the animated work of computer art "Making Visible the Invisible" are classed in 776.6 Animation and video -- a number subordinate to 776 Computer art (Digital art), which was a new number in Edition 22.

Mappings, MARC 21, People, Training, and Translations

We’ve been absent from the blogosphere the last two weeks, caught up in a swirl of preparations for the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle.  On Saturday, January 20, we held the Dewey Breakfast/Update at ALA Midwinter.  I kicked things off with Dewey Hot Topics, a quick review of several editorial initiatives.  We introduced our plans for the proposed Dewey Training Program (and met with a panel of library educators immediately following the breakfast to review several draft modules in detail).  We briefly discussed our collaboration with Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (DNB) to review the treatment of Dewey classification information across the MARC 21 formats.  We met with colleagues from DNB later that same day to discuss several issues in detail—watch for a MARBI discussion paper on the representation of DDC information in the MARC 21 formats at the ALA Annual Conference in June 2007.  We also presented a status report on the proposed guidelines for Dewey numbers in authority files (for more information, see the September 2006 discussion paper and earlier post on the topic). Finally, the "hot topics" included an update on the proposed changes to the captions at T1—08 (History and description with respect to kinds of persons) and T1—092 (Persons) to “Groups of people” and “Biography,” respectively.

Juli followed with a description of current translation projects and the underlying principles that guide Dewey translations.  Michael Panzer (pictured left), University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, wrapped up the session with a review of post-translation Dewey activities in Germany.  Michael discussed approaches to mapping in the MACS and CrissCross projects, and the implications of the expanded use of Dewey in the German national bibliography.

Polar Bear Conservation

Efforts to conserve and protect polar bears date from at least the 1960s, with threats such as hunting and increased contact with humans because of oil exploration; but the threat of receding sea ice was a major theme of news stories about polar bears in 2006. The IUCN World Conservation Union listed the polar bear as vulnerable in its IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ in 2006, and December 27 Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.  “Polar bears are one of nature’s ultimate survivors, able to live and thrive in one of the world’s harshest environments,” Kempthorne said. “But we are concerned the polar bears’ habitat may literally be melting.”

Works on conservation of polar bears are classed in 333.95978616 Conservation and protection of polar bears (built with 333.959 Specific kinds of mammals as biological resources plus 786 from 599.786 Ursus maritimus [Polar bear] plus 16 Conservation and protection from the add table under 333.7-333.9 Natural resources and energy, according to the instructions under 333.9592-333.9598 Subdivisions for specific kinds of mammals). Interdisciplinary works on polar bears are classed in 599.786 Ursus maritimus (Polar bear).

Zero Trans Fat Girl Scout Cookies®

Trans fats continue to be in the news as people try to avoid them for health reasons. This year for the first time all varieties of cookies being sold by Girl Scouts of the USA will “contain less than 0.5 grams trans fat per serving, which meets or exceeds the FDA guidelines for the ‘zero trans fat’ designation.”

Works on maintaining a diet that is healthy with respect to fats are classed 613.284 Fats and oils. Works on trans fats as a risk factor for coronary heart disease are classed in 616.123071 Coronary heart disease etiology (built with 616.123 Coronary diseases [Ischemic heart diseases] plus 071 Etiology from the add table under 616.1-616.9 Specific diseases). Works on Girl Scout Cookies® (with or without trans fat) are classed with other commercially produced cookies in 664.7525 Pastries.

Dewey Breakfast/Update at ALA Midwinter

The Dewey Breakfast/Update at ALA Midwinter is scheduled for Saturday, January 20, 7:00–8:30 a.m., in the Lakefront Room, Pan Pacific Seattle Hotel. This year’s featured speaker is Michael Preuss (University of Applied Sciences, Cologne). Michael will discuss post-translation Dewey activities in Germany, including the expanded use of Dewey in the German national bibliography, use of the DDC by virtual libraries in Germany, and SWD-DDC mappings. The Dewey editors will also present updates on Dewey training and translation activities.  If you haven’t already done so, please register here.  See you in Seattle!

Extreme Ironing

Do you participate in outdoor sports but also like a well-pressed shirt? Then the sport of extreme ironing may be for you! This activity is an extreme sport in which persons take an ironing board to an unusual location and iron a few items of clothing. Recent locations include the top of Mount Everest, on a ski slope while skiing, in the air while sky diving, and even under the ice cover of a lake.

Comprehensive works on extreme sports are classed at 796.046 Extreme sports. A specific extreme sport is classed with the type of sport, e.g., extreme snow skiing is classed with skiing at 796.93 Skiing and snowboarding. We’re waiting for more literary warrant to appear before identifying a category explicitly for extreme ironing. In the meantime, because extreme ironing requires equipment, i.e., the iron, ironing board, clothes, and can use the techniques of various other sports, e.g., skiing, mountaineering, it is classed at 796.2 Activities and games requiring equipment.