025.431: The Dewey blog

FrogWatch in North America

FrogWatch USA invites Americans to celebrate “FrogWatch 2008: Record the Ribbit” Saturday, May 3rd.  FrogWatch USA and FrogWatch Canada are volunteer citizen programs monitoring frogs and toads.  They are intended to increase awareness of amphibian decline and to gather information needed by scientists who are trying to determine causes of the decline and develop practical ways to stop it. 

Although the programs are called FrogWatch, they cover both frogs and toads.  In the Dewey biology schedule, 597.86-597.89 Anura (Salentia) has the note, “Class here frogs and toads” and “Class comprehensive works in 597.8.”  At 597.8 Amphibians is the note “Class here Anura (Salentia)”; because of that note, comprehensive works on frogs and toads approximate the whole of 597.8 Amphibians.   The work Frogs and Toads is classed in 597.8 Amphibians, and the work Frogs and Toads of Big Bend National Park is classed in 597.809764932 Amphibians of Brewster County, Texas (built with 597.8 plus T1—09 Geographic treatment plus T2—764932 Brewster County, which has the note “Including Big Bend National Park,” following instructions at T1—093-099 Treatment by specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds). 

Programs to monitor amphibian populations with an eye toward conserving biological resources are classed in 333.957811 Supply (Quantity) of amphibians (built with 333.957 Reptiles and amphibians plus 8 from 597.8 Amphibians plus 11 Reserves from the add table under 333.7-333.9 Natural resources and energy, following instructions at 333.7-333.9 and at 333.9578-333.9579 Amphibians, specific reptiles). 

The LCSH “Amphibian declines” has been mapped to 333.957811 Supply (Quantity) of amphibians (described above) and to 597.81788 Amphibians—population biology (built with 597.8 Amphibians plus 1 General topics of natural history of animals from add table under 592-599 Specific taxonomic groups of animals, following instructions at 592-599,  plus 7 from 591.7 Animal ecology, animals characteristic of specific environments, following instructions at 1 General topics of natural history of animals in add table under  592-599, plus 88 from 577.88 Population biology, following instructions at 591.71-591.78 Specific topics in animal ecology; specific environments).  The Manual entry 333.7-333.9 vs. 363.1, 363.73, 577 Social aspects of ecology offers guidance in choosing between numbers that emphasize public programs with an eye toward conserving biological resources (like 333.957811 Supply of amphibians) and numbers that are limited strictly to biology (like 597.81788 Amphibians—population biology).

Dewey Crossword Puzzle #1—Answers

A blog entry posted last week gave clues for a crossword puzzle composed of DDC numbers (but minus decimal points).  Did anyone actually do the puzzle? Too hard? Too easy? Want more? Let us hear from you.

The clues are repeated below, with the intended DDC notation for each clue given in square brackets; the relationship between the clue and the notation is also given. Built numbers are explained further below.

ACROSS
1 Superconductivity [621.35; caption]
2 General classification schemes [025.43; caption: General classification systems]
3 Sami [494.55; Relative Index: Sami language; built number]
4 Initiation of business enterprises devoted to literature [806.81; built number]
5 Crossword puzzles (abridged) [793.73; Including . . . crossword puzzles . . .]

DOWN
1 People with physical disabilities in technology [604.87; built number]
2 Geography, history, chronology, persons in the Apocrypha [229.09; built number]
3 Dreams [154.63; caption]
4 Criminal law of  Venezuela [345.87; built number]
5 Mechanical wave theory [535.13; caption]

494.55 Sami is built from 494 Uralic languages plus 55 from T6—9455 Sami, following the instructions at 494. 

806.81 Initiation of business enterprises devoted to literature is built from 8 Literature (i.e., 800, minus its final placeholder zeros, which disappear when further notation is added) plus T1—0681 Organization and financial management (“including . . . initiation of business enterprises”).

604.87 People with physical disabilities in technology is built from 604.8 History and description with respect to kinds of persons, a displaced standard subdivision T1—08 (displaced from 608, as indicated by the note “Do not use for history and description of technology with respect to kinds of persons; class in 604.8”), plus 7 from T1—087 Persons with disabilities and illnesses (“Class here persons with physical disabilities”), following the instructions at 604.8.

229.09 Geography, history, chronology, persons in the Apocrypha is built from 229 Apocrypha, pseudepigrapha, intertestamental works plus 09 Geography, history, chronology, persons from the add table under 221-229 Specific parts of Bible, Apocrypha, pseudepigrapha, intertestamental works, as instructed at 229, where the instruction is given that subdivisions can be added for Apocrypha alone.    

345.87 Criminal law of Venezuela  is built from 345 Criminal law plus T2—87 Venezuela, following the instructions at 345.3–345.9 Specific jurisdictions and areas.

 

What would Freud think?, or, For the puzzle junkies among you

The night life of a Dewey editor has its moments. From time to time I have awakened to the realization that I had been dreaming a blog, or Weekly List (LCSH-to-DDC) mappings, or an expansion.  (In my first week or two here, I dreamed I had been asked to work on developing a standard subdivision for things! Joan’s comment, after a pause that perhaps masked concern that I might actually think that possible, was simply, “Massive dual provision.”  Duh.) A few days ago I awakened and realized I had been dreaming Dewey in the context of doing a crossword puzzle. After a few seconds’ amusement, I thought, “Why not?” So, draw yourself a five-by-five grid, and have fun!    Answers and explanations will be posted next week.

Unless indicated otherwise, numbers come from DDC 22. Decimal points are omitted from all numbers; all numbers are five digits. And just to keep things a little more interesting, one number is drawn from each of the main classes, except one (since 1 down and 1 across necessarily come from the same main class).

ACROSS
1 Superconductivity
2 General classification schemes
3 Sami
4 Initiation of business enterprises devoted to literature
5 Crossword puzzles (abridged)

DOWN
1 People with physical disabilities in technology
2 Geography, history, chronology, persons in the Apocrypha
3 Dreams
4 Criminal law of Venezuela
5 Mechanical wave theory

Camellias and Azaleas

Camellias and azaleas in southern United States were featured in a recent news story from Associated Press:

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A group of gardeners across the South is on a hunt for century-old strains of camellias and azaleas that are vanishing as modern cultivators breed daintier hybrids with bigger, more vibrant blooms.

"What you have is a beautiful bloom and a plant where you have to have a $30,000 greenhouse and a Ph.D. to grow," said Tom Johnson, chief horticulturist at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. "You lose the beauty of the common ones in the wild or in people's backyards."

He is part of a group of individuals and 11 gardens across the South that have formed the Great Gardens of America Preservation Alliance to identify and preserve the so-called ancient or historic plants. Ancient plants are ones propagated before 1900; a historic designation is for plants from 1900 to 1960.

Works on camellias in gardens are classed in 635.933624 Floriculture of Theales (built with 635.93 Flowers and ornamental plants—Groupings by life duration; taxonomic groupings plus 3624 from 583.624 Theales, following instructions at 635.933-635.938 Taxonomic groupings). 583.624 Theales has the note “Including camellias . . . .” The Relative Index entry is Camellias—floriculture. An example of a work classed in 635.933624 is Camellias: The Gardener's Encyclopedia.

Works on azaleas in gardens are classed in 635.93366 Floriculture of Ericales (built with 635.93 Flowers and ornamental plants—Groupings by life duration; taxonomic groupings plus 366 from 583.66 Ericales, following instructions at 635.933-635.938 Taxonomic groupings). 583.66 Ericales has the note “Including azaleas . . . .” The Relative Index entry is Azaleas—floriculture. An example of a work classed in 635.93366 is American Azaleas, which has the LCSH Azaleas—United States.

Because camellias and azaleas are named in Including notes, they are in standing room, and no standard subdivisions may be added for works that focus on them alone.

Incidentally, azaleas are blooming in the Washington, DC, area, and they are gorgeous, even after being beaten by heavy (and much needed) rains last weekend.

Travel in Antarctica

“Cruising to Otherworldly Antarctica” and “Antarctica's March of the Tourists” are stories that ran last month on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition.  They spoke about a voyage of the MS Fram, “an ice-breaking Norwegian pleasure ship” that brought tourists to Antarctica.

Works on travel in Antarctica are classed in 919.8904 Travel in Antarctica (built with base number 91 plus T2—989 Antarctica plus notation 04 Travel from the add table under 913-919 Geography of and travel in ancient world and specific continents, countries, localities in modern world; extraterrestrial worlds, as instructed at 913-919).  Notation 04 Travel has the note: “Class here discovery, exploration; guidebooks.”  Examples of works classed in 919.8904 are Antarctica (a Lonely Planet guidebook) and Antarctic Odyssey: In the Footsteps of the South Polar Explorers. 

Accounts of early exploratory trips in Antarctica are also classed in 919.8904, e.g., The South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the “Fram,” 1910-1912, by Roald Amundsen, and Journals: Captain Scott's Last Expedition, by Robert Falcon Scott.  There is no way to express historical period.  At 041-049 Historical periods in the add table under 913-919, the instruction is to “add to 04 the historical period numbers following 0 that appear in subdivisions of 930-990.”  There are, however, no historical period numbers in 930-990 for Antarctica.  In the schedule at 998 Arctic islands and Antarctica, there is a footnote: “Add as instructed under 930-990; however, do not add historical periods.”

Planets and other objects

Virgin and Google may have been planning a permanent settlement on Mars with their Project Virgle, but we on planet Dewey moved further out in the solar system on April 1.

But (unlike Project Virgle) this is not an April Fool's Day joke.  We told you in January that we were proposing a new development for Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs),  including a relocation of Pluto from 523.482 to 523.4922, and new numbers for Kuiper Belt objects, Scattered Disc objects and the Oort Cloud.  This development has now been published as the new and changed entries for April 2008.