025.431: The Dewey blog

Abridged Edition 15 in WebDewey

Last week, Geneva Norton posted the following question on the blog: "Why is the Abridged 15 not going to be a part of WebDewey?"  In the sense that Abridged Edition 15 is a logical abridgment of DDC 23, the new abridged edition is already in WebDewey.  If you have "Show Segmentation Mark" and "Show Segmentation Instruction" checked as "Show" under Preferences in WebDewey, you can determine the equivalent Abridged Edition 15 number.  We realize that it’s not always easy to decode the segmentation instructions; a project is under way to improve them.

We have decided not to continue with a separate version of WebDewey based on Abridged Edition 15 because of the small numbers of subscribers to the current abridged web product (less than 10% of the number of subscribers to the full version of WebDewey).  (In contrast, the total number of print copies of Abridged Edition 14 sold nearly matched the number of print sets of DDC 22 sold.)  Where does this decision leave current Abridged WebDewey users?  We are exploring a number of ways to make WebDewey hospitable to abridged users beyond the current segmentation information.  On March 19, there will be an invitational webinar aimed at current Abridged WebDewey subscribers to get feedback and address any concerns.  Current subscribers will be contacted directly by Libbie Crawford, Dewey Product Manager, with webinar registration information.  We’ll certainly share the outcomes from that meeting with blog readers.

 

Dewey Breakfast/Update at PLA

The Dewey Breakfast/Update will be held on Thursday, 15 March, 7:00 - 8:30 am, in Salons II - III, Courtyard by Marriott Philadelphia Downtown.  The program will feature an introduction to Abridged Edition 15, plus presentations on DDC 23 and recent enhancements to WebDewey 2.0.  If you haven't already done so, please register here.

This will be my first PLA.  So I am now issuing a special invitation to come and join us, so you can inform me about public library users of Dewey. For instance, how many of you use the abridged edition vs. how many of you use the full edition?  Come, be fed, be educated, and educate right back!

Expansions from DDC 22 to DDC 23

During the February 7 webinar "DDC 23 Update" (available here), we received the question: "Is there a way to track all expansions from DDC 22 to DDC 23?"

"New Features in Edition 23," which appears in volume 1 of the print DDC 23 and is also available here, summarizes the expansions introduced in DDC 23 or in an interim update to DDC 22 prior to the publication of Edition 23, but does not list every new number.

A previous blog, "WebDewey 2.0 Enhancements," describes the history-of-numbers information now available in WebDewey 2.0.  Today a search for the term "expanded" in either the All Fields index or the All Dewey index yields "4067 records found."  The first record retrieved is relevant to the question about expansions from DDC 22 to DDC 23; the record for T1—0141 Discourse analysis has a History box with the following information:

expanded from T1--014
2011-04, Edition 23

The second record retrieved, however, is not relevant, because it represents an old expansion; the record for T1—0284 Apparatus, equipment, materials has a History box with the following information:

expanded from T1--028
1996, Edition 21

Unfortunately, at present, there is no simple way to search for only the new expansions.  One can retrieve on terms like "expanded" in the first part of a history note and on the DDC number in the note (T1—014 and T1—028 in the examples above), but not on the date or edition number in the second part of the note.  In the aforementioned blog, we noted that we were particularly interested in learning more about how you might make use of the history information.  This is the first feedback we’ve received!  We will explore adding the edition associated with history information as an indexed and searchable element in WebDewey sometime in the coming year.

Meanwhile, one possible approach is to search for "expanded" in a range of Dewey numbers, using Advanced Search and the truncation symbol asterisk (*)—preferably with guidance from "New Features in Edition 23" about where to find new numbers. For example, "New Features" includes the following for Table 2 Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Biography:

—494 Switzerland
. . . . .
            Expanded

The following search yields 171 records, all of which represent new numbers:

Term:     t2--494*    
Index:    Dewey Numbers
and
Term:     expanded    
Index:    All Dewey

Abridged 15 is here!

We are so excited today—copies of Abridged Edition 15 have arrived in the OCLC warehouse in Dublin, Ohio! Many regular blog readers got a sneak preview of the new edition last week during ebecca Rebecca Green's webinar—those of you who couldn’t attend the webinar can access the recording here to learn more about the features and content of Abridged Edition 15.

Abridged Edition 15 is USD$99. You can order a copy from OCLC at http://www.oclc.org/dewey/ordering/default.htm or the OCLC Online Service Center.

Happy retirement, Eve!

Eve Dickey, head of the Dewey Section at the Library of Congress, retired 31 December 2011 after 42 years of U.S. Federal service.  Eve was closely associated with Dewey application at the Library of Congress for 40 years, and led the Dewey Section for the last seven years.  Her tenure as section head was marked by her calm, steady, caring leadership. The Dewey editorial team and the worldwide Dewey community particularly benefited from her expertise in law, sociology, and education. Joined by retired members of the former Decimal Classification Division, we feted her in December before she left, and wished her well in pursuing her personal interests:

306.8745
641.5636
793.33
793.74
796.342
810.9896073

Good luck, Eve, in this new phase of your life!