025.431: The Dewey blog

Wars and Participation of a Specific Ethnic Group in a Specific Country's Forces

Recently we were asked:

For participation of a specific ethnic group in Second World War in one specific country's forces, how do I construct the number? Is it possible to combine ethnic group and country? For example, how should Estonians in Waffen-SS be classified?

Winton Matthews, retired DDC assistant editor and currently a consultant, gave an answer that is adapted here:

An ethnic group associated with a specific aspect of a war (not just World War II) is classed with that aspect.  If that aspect has its own number or is given in a class-here note, the ethnic group is shown by adding standard subdivision T1—089 Ethnic and national groups to the number for the aspect.  The military units, air operations, and naval operations of a specific country in World War II have their own numbers at 940.5412 Military units of Allies, 940.5413 Military units of Axis Powers, 940.5449 Air operations of specific countries, and 940.5459 Naval operations of specific countries.  Thus, standard subdivision T1—089 can be added.  The number for Estonians in Waffen-SS is 940.54134308994545 Estonian participation in World War II army of Germany (940.5413 Military units of Axis Powers plus T2—43 Germany plus T1—089 Ethnic and national groups plus T5—94545 Estonians).

The add instructions for that last example are found at 940.54134-940.54139 Specific continents, countries, localities in modern world and T1—0891–0899 Specific ethnic and national groups. An example of a work classed in 940.54134308994545 is Estonian Vikings: Estnisches SS-Freiwilligen Bataillon Narwa and subsequent units, Eastern Front, 1943–1944.

Another example of a work treating participation of a specific ethnic group in one specific country's World War II forces is The Jewish Brigade: An Army with Two Masters, 1944–1945. That work is classed in 940.541241089924 Jewish participation in World War II army of Great Britain (940.5412 Military units of Allies plus T2—41 British Isles—"Class here Great Britain, United Kingdom"—plus T1—089 Ethnic and national groups plus T5—924 Jews).

Electronica festivals

A recent USA Today article, entitled “Raves give rise to electronica fests,” gives us the quick opportunity to highlight two changes in DDC 23:  the first, an expansion, and the second, a relocation.

In a previous post on contemporary styles of music, we noted our intention of developing a new class, 781.648 Electronica, which is now present in DDC 23.  The close association of electronica and dancing makes 781.6481554 (built with 781.648 plus 1 General principles from the table under 781.63-78.69 plus 554 Dance music from 781.554 Dance music) redundant; a do-not-use note indicates that that number is not valid.  A work like All music guide to electronica would now be classed in 781.648.

In Table 1, festivals have been relocated from 1—079 Competitions, awards, financial support to 1—074 Museums, collections, exhibits, where festivals are now listed in the class-here note.  A work on the subject of the USA Today article, electronica fests, would thus be classified in 781.648074 Electronica festivals.

Selected Topics in 297.1-.8 Islam: Draft for comment by August 12, 2011

297.122    Koran
297.14      Religious and ceremonial laws and decisions
297.352    Mecca
297.81      Sunnites

As noted in earlier blog entries (here and here), we have been working with the Arabic DDC translation team based at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, especially with Ossama Mahmoud and Iman Khairy, on expansions and revisions to 297 for Islam.  Changes in 297.09 History, geographic treatment, biography and 297.125 Hadith (Traditions) [formerly  297.124] were published in DDC 23.  A new draft of selected topics in 297.1-.8 Islam is available for review on the discussion page of the Dewey web site.  The changes proposed in this draft, once approved, will be exposed in connection with the separate publication of the 200 Religion Class and in WebDewey. 

In this draft the largest area of expansion and revision is for 297.122 Koran.  At 297.14  Religious and ceremonial laws and decisions is an expansion for schools of Islamic law.  The expansion is important in 297 for fiqh al-ʻibādāt (rituals law); it will also be helpful for future plans to make 340 Law more hospitable for Islamic law. There is a small expansion at 297.352 Mecca; the other numbers under 297.35 Sacred places and pilgrimages are given for context.  The main change to 297.81 Sunnites is relocation of four groups that the Arabic translation team recommended be treated as schools of law rather than as Islamic sects; the other subdivisions of 297.8 Islamic sects and reform movements are given for context. 

We seek comments on the draft:
•    Does the proposed draft provide a general framework that can be used for organization of and access to diverse collections throughout the world?
•    Can you help us improve the English descriptions for Arabic terms?
•    Do the Relative Index entries provide appropriate access to the development?

Please comment directly to this blog entry or by one of the alternative methods given with the draft by August 12, 2011.

Dewey Events at IFLA 2011

OCLC is sponsoring two important Dewey events in conjunction with the 2011 World Library and Information Conference (IFLA 2011) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in August 2011.

A DDC 23 training workshop will be held immediately preceding IFLA 2011 on 12 August at Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Registration (with a link to the agenda) is open at http://registration.oclc.org/reg/?pc=DDC23IFLAwkshp. 

The International Dewey Users Meeting (formerly known as the Dewey Translators Meeting) is scheduled for Tuesday, 16 August, 9:00–11:00, Room 202A, Puerto Rico Convention Center.  The agenda will include highlights of DDC 23, additional proposed expansions to 297.1-297.8 Islam, features and planned enhancements to WebDewey 2.0, recent developments in the MARC 21 formats concerning DDC data, extensions to Dewey linked data, and an update from OCLC Research.  Registration will be available on the OCLC IFLA web site the week of July 11.  You may also contact me directly to register at mitchelj@oclc.org.