025.431: The Dewey blog

Fossils: Giant Sea Scorpion and Nigersaurus

Fossils have been in the news this month, e.g., stories about a Paleozoic sea scorpion: "Claws for Thought: The Fossilised Pincer of the Largest Arthropod Ever Found" and "Fossil Shows Sea Scorpions Stretched to 8 Feet" (original article "Giant Claw Reveals the Largest Ever Arthropod" in Biology Letters).  The abstract of the original article describes the fossil scorpion as "pterygotid eurypterid ('sea scorpion') Jaekelopterus rhenaniae."  The article has both "Arthropoda" and "Eurypterida" as keywords. 

Works about this Paleozoic sea scorpion are classed in 565.493 Eurypterida.  The Relative Index entry "Scorpions—paleozoology" points to the broader number 565.4 Chelicerata, which is a subdivision of 565 Fossil Arthropoda; however, this particular scorpion belongs in the narrower number for eurypterids.  Neither this particular species nor its genus (Jaekelopterus) approximates the whole of the subclass Eurypterida; hence there is no possibility to add further.

There have also been news stories about Nigersaurus, e.g., "'Mesozoic Cow' Rises from the Sahara Desert" and "Dino's look is hard to swallow" plus a web site and an exhibit "Extreme Dinosaur—Nigersaurus: Africa's Long-Necked Fern Mower" (original article "Structural Extremes in a Cretaceous Dinosaur" in Public Library of Science ONE). (Incidentally, the Cretaceous Period is part of the Mesozoic Era.)  The abstract of the original article speaks of "dinosaur, Nigersaurus taqueti. . . rebbachisaurid sauropod . . . diplodocoids, the larger clade of sauropods that includes Nigersaurus." The article itself uses the term "sauropodomorph" several times and has a diagram that gives a clear picture of the relationships among related taxa (Figure 4. Calibrated phylogeny of diplodocoid sauropods).

Works about Nigersaurus are classed in 567.913 Sauropodomorpha (Herbivorous Saurischia), which has the note "Including Diplodocus."  The number appears under the centered entry 567.912-567.915 Specific dinosaurs.  The one subdivision of 567.913 (567.9138 Apatosaurus [Brontosaurus]) is for a kind of dinosaur closely enough related to Nigersaurus to appear in figure 4 in the article, but at the opposite side of the diagram.

The work in hand is always the first source of taxonomic information needed to classify the work, but sometimes additional help is welcome.  The Manual note 579–590 Taxonomic nomenclature and sources of information does not explicitly give advice for 560 Paleontology    Paleozoology; however, one of the sources mentioned there—Encyclopaedia Britannica (print or online version)—is often helpful to classifiers navigating the taxonomic nomenclature in the Dewey 560s.

Oil Spills

November 7 there was an oil spill in San Francisco Bay, and November 11 there was a much larger oil spill in the Kerch Strait that links the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

Interdisciplinary works on oil spills are classed in 363.7382 Oil as an environmental pollutant, e.g., Oil Spills First Principles: Prevention and Best Response.  Works on water pollution engineering aspects of dealing with oil spills are classed in 628.16833 Oil spills, e.g., Oil Spill Response in the Marine Environment. 

An interdisciplinary work on a specific marine oil spill near land that treats the impact both on the water and the coast is classed with the area number for the land affected.  An interdisciplinary work on the spill in San Francisco Bay might be classed in 363.7382097946 Oil as an environmental pollutant in the San Francisco Bay Area (built with 363.7382 plus T1—09 Geographic treatment plus T2—7946 West central counties of California ["Class here San Francisco Bay Area"], following instructions under 362-363 Specific social problems and services).  An interdisciplinary work on the spill in the Kerch Strait might be classed in 363.7382094752 Oil as an environmental pollutant in Caucasus area of Russia (built with T2—4752 Caucasus area of Russia, which has Krasnodar territory in the including note).  The Kerch Strait is between Russia and Ukraine; the Table 2 notation for the Russian side is used for works that treat equally the impact on both areas, following the first-of-two rule.

EPC Makes Dewey History

The Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) held Meeting 128 at the Library of Congress November 13-14. In one of the first actions on the agenda, EPC members made Dewey history (025.431 Dewey Decimal Classification + T1—09 Historical treatment) by electing Caroline Kent (British Library) as 2008-2009 chair—she is the first chair from outside North America in the committee’s long history (Dewey has had an advisory committee since 1937; EPC was reconstituted in its present form in 1953).   Anne Robertson (Australian Committee on Cataloguing) continues for another year as vice-chair.

We’ll be sharing details of the meeting, including farewells to departing members, over the next few weeks.  As we reflect on the meeting, we’re struck by how the worldwide Dewey community shaped the proposals and conversation at the meeting.  Our translation teams serve as corresponding members on EPC, and review all the draft proposals distributed on the EPC discussion list simultaneously with EPC members.  Some comments received from corresponding members prompted us to change our recommended course of action.  Translation teams also made direct proposals or suggestions for changes.  The Italian translation team at the National Library of Florence proposed changes in philosophy (a new number for philosophical counseling), medicine (a review of the treatment of therapies under 615.851 Mental and activity therapies and 615.852 Religious and psychic therapy), and sports (an expansion under volleyball).  We received a request from the Royal Library of Sweden to consider changing the interdisciplinary number for abortion from abortion treated as a social controversy to abortion treated as a medical service—this resulted in new numbers in 610 and 362 (we hasten to add here that we’re not removing the number for abortion as a social controversy [363.46 Abortion]—just changing its status as the interdisciplinary number).   

A question concerning the treatment of healthy cells of a specific type in medicine from Michael Panzer (that originated when he was still in Germany working on the CrissCross project) resulted in proposed updates to 611.018 Cytology and histology (following the pattern in 570 Life sciences for cytology and histology) and in 612 Human physiology (following the pattern in 573 Specific physiological systems in animals and elsewhere in 610 Medicine and health). A suggestion from the German translation team that fortified wine needs its own number led to several proposals for improving the treatment of wine, including new numbers for fortified wine under the number for wine in home and family management, which is also the interdisciplinary number (641.22 Wine), and under the number for commercial processing of wine (663.2 Wine).   We received useful advice on the geographic treatment of wine from several countries.

Another historical event in the life of Dewey took place on November 1—Ross Trotter (formerly of the British Library) retired as a member of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) Dewey Decimal Classification Committee.  Ross had been a member of the CILIP DDC Committee since 1969, and served as chair of the committee from 1999 until earlier this year.  I was delighted to attend the CILIP DDC Committee meeting in London on November 1 to offer my good wishes to Ross on behalf of the Dewey editorial team.  Ross’s guidance during the years has helped shape the DDC in numerous ways.  Three times, we’ve called upon him to serve as guest assistant DDC editor (our own “fifth Beatle”) for the revision of 560-590 Life sciences, the update of the area table for Great Britain, and the complete overhaul of the DDC Manual.  We will sorely miss Ross’s DDC knowledge and sound advice, and wish him all the best in the years to come.

Foreign Exchange Rates

Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates have been in the news recently—especially the falling U.S. dollar—for example, "Yen Advances to 18-Month High Against Dollar on Credit Concern."

Works on the foreign exchange rate of the U.S. dollar and the yen are classed in 332.4560952073 Exchange rates of Japanese and United States currencies (built with 332.45609 Historical, geographic, persons treatment of exchange rates plus T2—52 Japan plus 0 plus T2—073 United States, as instructed at 332.456093–332.456099 Exchange rates of specific currencies and groups of currencies in specific continents, countries, localities), e.g., A Structural Break in the Effects of Japanese Foreign Exchange Intervention on Yen/Dollar Exchange Rate Volatility.  The Table 2 notation for Japan precedes that for the United States because of the instruction at 332.456093–332.456099: "Give priority in notation to the currency of a jurisdiction or group of jurisdictions coming first in Table 2."  Works on the foreign exchange rate of the U.S. dollar with respect to multiple currencies are classed in 332.4560973 Exchange rate of United States currency (built with 332.45609 Historical, geographic, persons treatment of exchange rates plus T2—073 United States, as instructed at 332.456093–332.456099 Exchange rates of specific currencies and groups of currencies in specific continents, countries, localities), e.g., Dollar Adjustment: How far? Against what?

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

During the African Studies Association's 2007 annual meeting in New York, I was privileged to visit the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture with members of the Africana Librarians Council.  Curators from all five divisions (Art and Artifacts Division; General Research and Reference Division; Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division; Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division; Photographs and Prints Division) described the riches of their collections and answered questions, with special emphasis on African studies because of the interests of the Africana librarians. 

The Schomburg Center collections are rich in materials pertaining to the African diaspora, in addition to Africa itself.  "Geographically, the Schomburg Center acquires materials from areas with substantial populations of African origin including the African continent and surrounding islands and regions of the African diaspora.  The diasporan emphasis is on the Western Hemisphere including the Caribbean, South America (notably Brazil), Central America, and North America. Resources are also collected on the major cities of Europe where large groups of immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa reside."  Disciplines covered include history, social sciences, arts, literature, religion, medicine, and the natural sciences. 

Works that focus on world history (and works that focus in a broader way on world-wide culture and civilization) of Africans and people of African descent, e.g., Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora and Global Dimensions of the African Diaspora, are classed in 909.0496 World history of Africans and people of African descent (built with 909.04 History with respect to ethnic and national groups, plus T5—96 Africans and people of African descent, as instructed at 909.04).  At 909 World history is the scope note: "Civilization and events not limited by continent, country, locality."

The Schomburg Center is one of the specialized research libraries that are part of the New York Public Library (NYPL).  Works on the NYPL as a whole are classed in 027.47471 Public libraries in New York (N.Y.) (built with 027.4 Public libraries plus T2—7471 New York, as instructed at 027.43-027.49 Treatment by specific continents, countries, localities).

Works that focus only on the Schomburg Center are classed in 026.90904960097471 Libraries, archives, information centers in New York (N.Y.) devoted to history and civilization of people of African origin (built with 026 Libraries, archives, information centers devoted to specific subjects and disciplines plus 90904 History with respect to ethnic and national groups, as instructed at 026.001-026.999 Specific subjects and disciplines, plus T5—96 Africans and people of African descent, as instructed at 909.04, plus extra 0 for standard subdivision, as instructed in footnote at 909.04, plus T1—09 Geographic treatment plus T2—7471 New York).  Under 027 General libraries, archives, information centers is the reference: "For libraries, archives, information centers devoted to specific disciplines and subjects, see 026."