025.431: The Dewey blog

Seeds for Gardens

“Francine Raymond surveys the seed catalogues that have been ignored until now to plan which veggies and flowers she will grow during 2011” begins the article “How to Plan and Plant Your Veg and Flowers This Year” (The Telegraph).  The article “Seed Catalogues Plant Dreams” (Washington Post) focuses on vegetables for “A Cook’s Garden,” and “Garden Catalog Season: New Isn't Necessarily Better” (Christian Science Monitor) emphasizes flowers.  All the articles mention tempting new varieties and old favorites found in the seed catalogs; the last article praises some new varieties (“Supertunias are ‘petunias on steroids,’ hybrids bred to have small flowers and good disease-resistance, to self-prune, and to bloom from spring until fall”) and grumbles about others.

Where are works on production of seeds for gardens classed?  Browsing the Relative Index for “seeds” yields:

Seeds                                                        581.467
. . .
Seeds—descriptive botany                             581.467
. . .
Seeds—nursery production                             631.521
. . .
Seeds—nursery production—ornamental plants   635.91521

The interdisciplinary number for seeds in general—the number that appears directly opposite the term “Seeds” (581.467)—is a descriptive botany number; it is not a likely number for garden seeds.  Gardening is an applied science.  At 500 Natural sciences and mathematics is a see reference: “For applied sciences, see 600.”  At 580 Plants is a scatter see reference: “For a specific aspect of plants, see the aspect, e.g., plant cultivation 631.5.” See references have hierarchical force.  Also, at 580 Plants is the relocation note “Interdisciplinary works on plants of agricultural importance relocated to 630.” The following two Manual notes help explain the differences between 630 and 579–590 numbers:

630 vs. 579–590, 641.3
Agriculture and related technologies vs. Natural history of specific kinds of organisms vs. Food
Use numbers in 630 for interdisciplinary works on domestic plants and animals, or works discussing species known almost exclusively in agriculture. Use numbers in 630 as the interdisciplinary numbers for species if the work discusses varieties not known in nature. Use numbers in 579–590 for interdisciplinary works on plants and animals in general.
. . .

635.9 vs. 582.1
Flowers and ornamental plants in agriculture vs. Herbaceous and woody plants, plants noted for their flowers
Use 635.9 . . . for works that emphasize plants to be cultivated or appreciated in human-made settings. Use 582.1 for works that emphasize the plants in nature or their biology. If in doubt, prefer 635.9.
. . .

The comprehensive number for production of agricultural seeds is 631.521 Seeds.  It has in its upward hierarchy 631.52 Production of propagational organisms and new varieties. Examples of works classed in 631.521 Seeds are:

•    Handbook of Seed Science and Technology

•    Seeds Handbook: Biology, Production, Processing, and Storage

•    The Wisdom of Plant Heritage: Organic Seed Production and Saving

The number 631.521 Seeds covers all agricultural crops; it is too broad for works limited to garden seeds.  Browsing the Relative Index for “gardening” and looking down to “gardens” yields:

Gardening     635
. . .
Gardens       635

Browsing the Relative Index for “vegetables” yields:

Vegetables—garden crop     635

Because of the dual heading at 635 Garden crops (Horticulture)    Vegetables, the number is used for garden crops in general and for vegetables alone.  The subdivision 635.04 Cultivation, harvesting, related topics has a footnote: “Add as instructed under 633–635.” Works on production of garden seeds in general and on production of vegetable seeds are classed in 635.0421 Garden seeds (built with 635.04 plus 21 from 631.521 Seeds, following the footnote instruction at 635.04 and the instruction under 1–6 Cultivation and harvesting in the add table at 633–635 Specific plant crops.)  An example of a work classed in 635.0421 Garden seeds is Vegetable Seed Production.

Browsing the Relative Index for “flowers” yields:

Flowers—gardening         635.9

The entry 635.9 Flowers and ornamental plants has the class-here note: “Class here floriculture”; hence subdivisions of 635.9 can be used for flowers alone. Works on production of seeds for flowers and ornamental plants are classed in 635.91521 Flower and ornamental plant seeds (built with 635.91 Specific techniques; apparatus, equipment, materials plus 521 from 631.521 Seeds, following instruction at 635.91). An example of a work classed in 635.91521 Flower and ornamental plant seeds is Flower Seeds: Biology and Technology.

Electric and Hybrid Electric Automobiles: Technology

Electric and hybrid electric cars have been in the news in connection with the 2011 North American International Auto Show, e.g., “Electric Cars Steal the Spotlight at Auto Show” (NPR), “Electric Cars Win Top Awards at Detroit Motor Show” (Guardian), “Electrics in the Real World” (New York Times), “How to Design Electric Cars for Safety” (Reuters),  “GM Tries to Get Ahead of the Green Car Curve with Volt” (The Telegraph), and “Toyota Expands Prius Hybrid Car Brand” (BBC).

Browsing the Relative Index for “electric automobiles” yields:

Electric automobiles—engineering       629.2293

Examples of works classed in 629.2293 Electric-powered vehicles are:

•    Build Your Own Electric Vehicle
•    Electric Vehicle Technology Explained
•    Modern Electric, Hybrid Electric, and Fuel Cell Vehicles: Fundamentals, Theory, and Design

What about works that focus on hybrid electric automobiles?  Browsing for “hybrid electric” in the Relative Index yields nothing relevant; however, because the LCSH “Hybrid electric cars” has been editorially mapped, the same browse in the LCSH index of WebDewey yields:

Hybrid electric cars 629.2293

Examples of works about hybrid electric vehicles classed in 629.2293 Electric-powered vehicles are:

•    Hybrid Gasoline-Electric Vehicle Development
•    How Do Hybrid Cars Work?

What if a classifier has a work about a specific hybrid electric passenger automobile and browses the Relative Index for “passenger automobiles”?  That yields:

Passenger automobiles—engineering 629.222

Both 629.2293 and 629.222 have 629.22 Types of vehicles in their upward hierarchy; however, the entry 629.222 Passenger automobiles has in its upward hierarchy the centered entry:

629.222–629.228     Gasoline-powered, oil-powered, man-powered vehicles

The entry 629.2293 Electric-powered vehicles has in its upward hierarchy:

629.229         Other types of vehicles

Those captions in the upward hierarchy have hierarchical force.  Hybrid electric passenger automobiles are not completely gasoline powered; they fit better in a subdivision of “other types of vehicles.” An example of a work classed in 629.2293 is Prius.

Since How Do Hybrid Cars Work? and Prius are children’s books, in many libraries they will be classed in the shorter number used in the abridged edition: 629.22.

Harps

Over the past some months, harps have been more a part of my life than usual:  I have played (piano) with an orchestral harp; I have toured the workshop of a friend who makes Celtic harps (and indeed I am currently “babysitting” a Celtic harp for another friend); and on a recent visit home, I found that my mother had acquired an autoharp.

What makes a harp a harp?  A harp is a chordophone, that is, a musical instrument whose sound is produced by the vibrating of strings; other common chordophones include the piano, guitar, and violin.  Like many chordophones, harps include a sound box, which serves to amplify and prolong the sound produced by the strings.   The sound box, or resonator, is one of three edges in the triangular shape of the harp; the other two edges are called the neck, to which the strings are attached at the top of the instrument , and a forepillar, which parallels the longest of the strings.  The Harvard Dictionary of Music defines a harp as “a chordophone in which the plane of the strings is perpendicular to the soundboard.”  According to this definition, my mom’s autoharp isn’t actually a harp, but rather a zither, a chordophone in which the plane of the strings is parallel to the soundboard.

Executant (the voice or instrument that produces the music) gets top billing (i.e., is first in the citation order) in the DDC’s faceted classification of music.  The discussion in the Manual note at 780 on the arrangement of the components of complex subjects parallels the instruction at 780 that a subject with aspects in two or more subdivisions of 780 is to be classed in the number coming last.  Accordingly, general principles of music and musical forms are found in 781, before vocal music in 782-783 and instrumental music in 784-788 (789 is an optional number).    Thus a work on harps will be classed in subdivisions of 787 Stringed instruments (Chordophones), no matter whether it is music for the harp, a critical study of music for the harp, or a work on harps as instruments.

The subdivisions of 787 are organized by families of chordophones.  In 787.2–787.6 we find bowed stringed instruments:  violins, violas, cellos, double basses, viols, hurdy-gurdies, and more.  Plectral chordophones—struck stringed instruments—are found in 787.7–787.9, with zithers in 787.7, lutes in 787.8, and harps and musical bows in 787.9.  Autoharps are classed in 787.75 Plucked board zithers, while both orchestral and Celtic harps are classed in 787.95 Frame harps.  In all three cases, the specific instrument is named in the including note.   This means that no further number building can be done for the specific  instrument.  For example, The autoharp owner's manual: everything from maintaining to building an autoharp is classed in 787.75 Plucked board zithers itself, without being allowed to follow the instruction given throughout 787 to “add as instructed under 784–788.” 

Where a work is not specific to a kind of harp, however, the add instructions at 784–788 make it possible to represent other musical concepts in the class number.   Notation for general principles is taken from 781.1–781.7, while notation for musical forms and instruments is taken from 784.18–784.19.  Several examples will illustrate:   

• The pocket guide to harp composing: a concise, non-technical manual containing all of the information needed to write effectively for any type of harp is classed in 787.913 Harp composition (built with 787.9 Harps and musical bows [the comprehensive number for harps] plus 13 from 781.3 Composition, following instructions in the add table under 784–788).
• Ten Christmas carols: transcribed for the harp with or without pedals is classed in 787.91723 Christmas music for harp (built with 787.9 Harps and musical bows plus 1723 from 781.723 Music of Christmas following instructions in the add table under 784–788). 
• Zur Baugeschichte der Harfe : vom Mittelalter bis zum 19. Jahrhundert : 13. Musikinstrumentenbau-Symposium in Michaelstein am 6. und 7. November 1992, a work on the history of harp construction should be classed in 787.9192309 Harp construction (built with 787.9 Harps and musical bows plus 1923 from 784.1923 Construction, following instructions in the add table under 784–788, plus standard subdivision T1—09 History).  
• Method for the harp: fundamental exercises with illustrations and technical explanations is classed in 787.9193 Techniques for playing harp (built with 787.9 Harps and musical bows plus 193 from 784.193 Techniques for playing instruments, following instructions in the add table under 784–788).  

 

 

 

 

 

Elections: Political Parties

An earlier posting on the activities of the (political) election process promised a follow-up post on participants in the election process.  Here we examine the DDC’s treatment of political parties.

Participants in elections, like election process activities, are found in subdivisions of 324 Political process, primarily in 324.2 Political parties.  In general, numbers for political parties are built with:

• 324.2 Political parties, plus
• notation at the country level from Table 2, plus
• notation for the kind of party, as set forth in notation 02–08 in the add table under 324.24–324.29 Parties in specific countries and localities in modern world. 

For example, The Chilean Communist Party and the road to socialism is classed in 324.283075 Communist parties in Chile (built with 324.2 Political parties plus notation T2—83 Chile plus notation 075 Communist parties from the add table at 324.24–324.29, following the instructions given there).

Two criteria govern the organization of political parties in the add table under 324.24–324.29.  The first is temporal, with historical parties (parties existing only prior to 1945) in notation 02 and parties founded or in existence after 1945 in 03–08.  The second is a right-to-left ideological spectrum, applied only to parties founded or existing after 1945; parties founded or in existence after 1945 and identified primarily by a position on that spectrum (e.g., rightist parties, conservative parties, centrist parties, liberal parties, leftist parties) are found in 03–07, while parties founded or in existence after 1945 but not identified primarily by a position on that spectrum (e.g., religious parties, regionalist parties, green parties) are found in 08.

Several exceptions to the general pattern for building numbers for political parties exist:

• International party organizations are classed in 324.1 International party organizations, auxiliaries, activities; the organization of subdivisions of 324.1 is similar to that of notation 03–08 of the 324.24–324.29 add table; for example, International communism and the Communist International, 1919-43 is classed in 324.175 International organizations of communist parties.

• Special developments for political parties in specific countries and localities (United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, United States, Australia) are given separately; these developments tend to follow the general pattern, but are not guaranteed to do so. 

For example, special developments often have classes for specific political parties (e.g., Social Credit Party of Canada, Whig Party) rather than for kinds of political parties.  Typically, they give specific numbers for multiple historical parties, while the add table under 324.24–324.29 gives only a single number (02) for historical parties.   Some of the special developments use notation 09 for Other parties (that is, parties other than those expressly named).  For example, The Communist Party of Great Britain since 1920 is classed in 324.241097509 (built with 324.24109 Other parties of United Kingdom [other than the Conservative, Liberal, and Labor parties] plus notation 75 from 075 Communist parties in the add table under 324.24–324.29, following the instruction at 324.24109, plus standard subdivision notation T1—09 History ).  As a result of these differences, the notation used in special developments does not always align exactly with the meaning the notation has in the add table under 324.24–324.29. 

Some of the special developments also provide for political parties at the state/territory/province level within the country.   (Remember that the general pattern includes use of Table 2 notation at the level of the country.)  Let us consider, for example, The Young Liberal Movement in Victoria: policies, history, structure, constitution and by-laws.  The Young Liberals is the youth division of the Liberal Party in Australia, that is, an auxiliary party organization.  An instruction at 324.3094–324.3099 Auxiliary party organizations in modern world indicates that auxiliary party organizations in a specific country or state should be classed in 324.24–324.29, plus notation 014 (Auxiliary party organizations) from the add table there.   However, a class-elsewhere note at 01 General topics in the add table under 324.24–324.29 tells us that general topics of specific parties should be classed in 02–08; that is, specific kinds of parties are preferred over general topics.  Of course, since it has its own special development, Australia is not governed by the add table at 324.24–324.29.  But a parallel class-elsewhere note occurs at 324.29401 General topics of parties of Australia:  Class general topics of specific parties of Australia in 324.29402–324.29409.  Therefore, The Young Liberal Movement in Victoria: policies, history, structure, constitution and by-laws is classed in 324.294505 (built with 324.294 Political parties of Australia, plus notation 5 from T2—945 Victoria, plus facet indicator 0, plus 5 from 324.29405 Liberal Party of Australia, following the instructions at 324.2941—324.2948 Parties in states and territories of Australia).

Floods in Australia

Last September, Juli blogged here about floods in Pakistan.

Currently, it’s Australia’s turn.  About a month ago there were floods in the central west of New South Wales: I have a personal connection with them, because my youngest son started at a new job in Dubbo when those floods were at their peak in that town.  Now there are floods in Queensland over a much larger area, caused by Tropical Cyclone Tasha.

One important effect of the Queensland floods has been its disruption of coal exports from Queensland to East Asia (Japan, South Korea and China).  Coal is one the major exports from Australia, with more than half of the coal coming from the parts of Queensland disrupted by floods.  Most of the rest goes through Newcastle, NSW – my home town in Australia, and the largest coal port in the world, with more than 90 million tons of coal going through the port each year.

Of course, coal mining is becoming controversial, because greenhouses gases from the burning of fossil fuels (including coal) are a major factor in anthropogenic climate change, i.e., global warming, and global warming is causing increased severity and frequency of tropical cyclones such as Tasha, which is disrupting the coal supply chain in Queensland at present.

Works on the current floods in Queensland would be classed in 994.3072, following the instructions at the Manual note at 900, “Use 930-990 for events that are important enough to affect the general social life and history of the place, regardless of any discipline involved.”  The number 994.3072 is built by adding to the base number 9 the notation 943 Queensland from Table 2, following the instructions at 930-990, and then adding notation 072 from 994.072 [Australian history] 2007-, again following the instructions at 01-09 in the add table at 930-990.

Works on the coal industry in Australia would be classed in 338.27240994.  This number is built by adding to 338.27 Products [of extraction of minerals] the notation 24 from 553.24 Bituminous and semibituminous coal (which has a note, “Class here comprehensive works on coal”), then adding notation 09 Historical, geographic, persons treatment from Table 1 and notation 94 Australia from Table 2.

Interdisciplinary works on global warming are classed in 363.73874 Greenhouse gases, where there is a note, “Class here interdisciplinary works on greenhouse effect (global warming).”

Indian, Italian, and French Cooking

NPR’s “Long View” series of interviews with people who have been active in a field for a long time recently focused on cooks: “Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Kitchen,” “Marcella Hazan Brings Italy to America,” and “French Gourmand Jacques Pepin.”

The subdivision of 641.5 Cooking built with T1—09 Historical, geographic, persons treatment—i.e., 641.509 Historical, geographic, persons treatment—has the do-not-use note: “Do not use for cooking characteristic of specific geographic environments; class in 641.59.”

Madhur Jaffrey’s Flavours of India is classed in 641.5954 Cooking characteristic of India (built with 641.59 Cooking characteristic of specific geographic environments, ethnic cooking plus T2—54 India, following instructions at 641.593–641.599 Cooking characteristic of specific continents, countries, localities). It has the LCSH “Cooking, Indic.”

Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking is classed in 641.5945 Cooking characteristic of Italy (built with 641.59 plus T2—45 Italy, following instructions at 641.593–641.599). It has the LCSH “Cooking, Italian.”

Jacques Pepin’s A French Chef Cooks at Home and Julia Child’s and Pepin’s Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home are both classed in 641.5944 Cooking characteristic of France (built with 641.59 plus T2—44 France, following instructions at 641.593–641.599).  Both have the LCSH “Cooking, French.”

Works on cooking a specific kind of dish, however, are not classed in 641.59; the see reference at 641.5 Cooking has hierarchical force:  “For cooking specific kinds of dishes, preparing beverages, see 641.8.”   There is no subdivision with a do-not-use note limiting the use of T1—09 Historical, geographic, persons treatment at 641.86 Desserts, for example.  Thus Ursula Ferrigno’s La Dolce Vita: Sweet Things from the Italian Home Kitchen is classed in 641.860945 Desserts of Italy (built with 641.86 Desserts plus T1—09 plus T2—45 Italy, following instructions at T1—093–T1—099 Treatment by specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds).  It has the LCSH “Desserts,” “Cake,” “Cookies,” and “Cooking, Italian.”