025.431: The Dewey blog:

"Fiction Finder is a works-based based application that provides access to millions of works of fiction described in WorldCat records for books, eBooks, audio books, movies and television. You can search by person, place, topic, genre, character, Dewey and more." Fiction Finder was developed by OCLC Research.

As a hidden part of Fiction Finder, DDC has been used in processing the database to pull in a broad range of stories of imagined events, including folk tales, graphic novels, films, and television, in addition to novels, short stories, drama, and narrative poetry. For information about DDC and broadening Fiction Finder beyond textual novels and short stories, see the previous blog post "Improved Access to Fiction" and the conference paper "Finding Fiction: Facilitating Access to Works of the Imagination Scattered by Form and Format" (2006).¹

As with Cookbook Finder, DDC numbers have recently been made visible, with assignable numbers from DDC 23 (including built numbers) appearing with captions in detailed-record displays. To search by Dewey number, click the class number in the detailed record. Or, if you know the DDC number you want, you can enter the number directly, using the drop-down menu in Advanced Search. You can use the question mark (?) as a character masking symbol (to stand for a single character in your search) or use the asterisk (*) for left or right truncation. (These Advanced-Search features are newly available also in Cookbook Finder.)

As in the WorldCat database from which Fiction Finder is derived, not every record has a DDC number. A DDC number displayed and searchable in the Fiction Finder database may be short because an abridged number was assigned originally. Or a WorldCat record may have a full built number, but Fiction Finder may give a shorter number because Fiction Finder gives only as much of a built number as can be found in the DDC 23 database (from which WebDewey is derived). Why? Fiction Finder needs to be able to display a caption from the DDC 23 database with the number. Indeed, Fiction Finder shows only numbers and captions that match a schedule or built number in DDC 23 even if the number taken from the WorldCat database was assigned from another edition; that introduces inconsistencies when there have been relocations or discontinuations. Nevertheless, the shorter or inconsistent numbers can still be useful for access, especially in combination with the many other elements available for searching in Fiction Finder.

Search results reported here reflect searches done on May 16, 2014; results may change as the database is updated.

To sample folk literature, let’s begin by using Advanced Search to do a title search for "Cinderella" (retrieves 886 records). The first record retrieved, Cinderella, has 398.2 Folk literature. Here is the start of the record:

A user who wants to branch out and consider other folk tales can click 398.2 (retrieves 3654 records) and look at the record for, e.g., Stone Soup: An Old Tale:

Another user, in response to the original title search for Cinderella, might select the third record retrieved. (The second record has no DDC number.) The third record, Cinderella, has 791.4372 Single films. Here is the start of the record:

Clicking 791.4372 retrieves 20761 records, with a variety of popular and classic films at the top of the list. Clicking in the column at the left under "Genre" to limit to animated films retrieves 695 records. Among the first ten is another film from Disney about a legendary character: Mulan.

A title search for "Mulan" (retrieves 76 records) has among the first ten records a book version, Mulan Saves the Day, with the DDC number 398.2095102 Persons (Individuals)—folklore—China (built with 398.209 History, geographic treatment, biography of folk literature plus T2—51 China, as instructed at 398.2093-398.2099 Specific continents, countries, localities, plus 0, as instructed at 398.2093-398.2099:01-08 Tales and lore on a specific topic, plus 2 from 398.22 Tales and lore of persons without paranormal powers, also as instructed at 398.2093-398.2099:01-08 Tales and lore on a specific topic). (Note: In WebDewey the add note at 398.2093-398.2099:01-08 has been corrected to begin: "Add to 0 . . . . ") Here is the start of the record for Mulan Saves the Day:

Clicking 398.2095102 retrieves 12 records, including The Lost Horse: A Chinese Folktale and Ling-Li and the Phoenix Fairy: A Chinese Folktale.

A search for 398.2095* (using Dewey in the drop-down menu) retrieves 16 records, including The Hungry Coat: A Tale from Turkey, classed in 398.20956102 Persons (Individuals)—folklore—Turkey (built with T2—561 Turkey), and The Patient Stone: A Persian Love Story, classed in 398.2095502 Persons (Individuals)—folklore—Iran (built with T2—55 Iran).

None of the 16 records, however, has been built with T2—52 Japan, because the DDC 23 database does not include a 398.209+ number built with T2—52 Japan. (Of course, the add note at 398.2093-398.2099 Specific continents, countries, localities allows classifiers to build 398.20952+ but the already-built number is not in the DDC 23 database and thus there is no caption for Fiction Finder to display.) A search for Dewey 398.209* retrieves 2109 records. Many of those records have only 398.209 History, geographic treatment, biography, because that is all that matches numbers in the DDC 23 database. One way to identify some Japanese folk literature in that set of 2109 records is to search for Dewey 398.209 and Place Japan (if we did not already know that 398.20952+ is missing, we could search for Dewey 398.209* and Place Japan):

That search retrieves 56 records, including The Funny Little Woman and Tsunami! Here is the start of the record for Tsunami!

A searcher who wants to cast a wider net and further reduce the impact of inconsistencies in the DDC numbers taken from the WorldCat database can truncate the DDC number further, e.g., by searching for Dewey 398.2* and Place Japan; that search retrieves 132 records.

(Note: Information about Fiction Finder was supplied by Diane Vizine-Goetz, Senior Research Scientist, OCLC Research.)

¹Beall, Julianne and Diane Vizine-Goetz. 2006. "Finding Fiction: Facilitating Access to Works of the Imagination Scattered by Form and Format." In Knowledge Organization for a Global Learning Society: Proceedings of the Ninth International ISKO Conference (Vienna, Austria, July 4-7, 2006), edited by G. Budin, C. Swertz, and K. Mitgutsch, 295-301. Advances in Knowledge Organization, no. 10. Würzburg: Ergon.

Our crystal ball was a little hazy back in 2008 when we introduced an expansion under 004.16 Personal computers (004.167) and made its caption Handheld computing devices. We were thinking that size would be the defining element that separated this new class from other personal computers. On the basis of size—indeed, the size that could be comfortably held in one hand—we restricted the use of 004.167 Handheld computing devices to the likes of smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), palmtop computers, and pocket computers, while 004.16 Personal computers retained tablets, notebook computers, and laptops. But, alas, it did not take long before questions started to arise. Shouldn’t tablets be in 004.167? Well, what about phablets? Clearly classifiers’ intuitions drew the line between 004.16 and 004.167 in a different place than what had been set out in the DDC itself. A mere handful of years later--i.e., NOW--the defining element for the re-captioned 004.167 Mobile computing devices is portability (which, of course, is related to size, but provides a more pragmatic dividing line). So the question is no longer whether the device can be comfortably held in one hand, but can it be easily carried from one location to another. Being mobile also implies the use of wireless technologies. Redefining the dividing line between 004.16 and 004.167 means that all of the following are now part of 004.167 (in addition to the devices that were part of 004.167 to start with): e-book readers, phablets, tablets, (most) laptops, notebooks, wearable computers. In theory, the dividing line is still somewhat a fine one. A laptop that is a desktop replacement should be classed in 004.16; alternatively, any laptop that is merely “luggable” should be classed in 004.16. Only laptops that are truly mobile (but this applies to most laptops today) should be classed in 004.167. However, since we don’t find literature in WorldCat for desktop replacement laptops, the fine-dividing-line issue appears to be moot.

Here are examples of 004.16 devices: