WebDewey Number Building Tool: Natural Resources

Note: The general approach to building numbers described here can be applied in any discipline. See also posts 1 and 2 on using number building tool in music, and post on number building in literature.

Are you having problems using the WebDewey number building tool with the add table at 333.7-333.9 Natural resources and energy?

If so, let’s try an example:  Endangered Whales: Information for Teachers. Its first LCSH is "Whales—Conservation."

Here is a summary of the instructions for using the WebDewey number building tool to build the DDC number 333.959516 Cetacea—resource economics—conservation.  (The format of the summary is modeled on the tables used in the WebDewey training modules for the WebDewey number building tool.)

 

Navigate to this number / span	Click	Number built so far	Caption of last number / notation added
333.9592-333.9598	Start	333.959	Subdivisions for specific kinds of mammals
599.5	Add	333.9595	*Cetacea and Sirenia
333.7-333.9:16	Add	333.959516	Conservation and protection

Does that answer all your questions about how to build the number?  If not, keep reading for details.

Browsing the Relative Index for "whales" yields seven entries, among them:

Whales 599.5
 …
Whales--resource economics 333.9595
Whales--zoology 599.5
 
Clicking 333.9595 leads to the full record display for the built number 333.9595 Cetacea--resource economics.  The full-record display for a built number has minimal content.  Here is the Relative Index Terms box for 333.9595; it includes the "Whales—resource economics" entry:

(Background information: The caption for a built number in WebDewey is either the Relative Index entry that most correctly represents the scope of the number, or the first entry in alphabetic order—the latter a default when the most representative entry has not been designated.  In this case, "Cetacea--resource economics" is both the most representative entry and the first in alphabetic order.)   

Here is the Hierarchy box for 333.9595 (note: built numbers are marked with orange puzzle pieces):

Should you click Start in the Create built number box in the record for 333.9595 to build 333.959516 Cetacea—resource economics—conservation? No!  To build that number, you need an add note, and there is no add note in the record for a built number.  To get the add note, you can look up in the Hierarchy box and click the number span immediately above the entries with orange puzzle pieces: 333.9592-333.9598 Subdivisions for specific kinds of mammals.  In the full record display for the span, here is the Hierarchy box:

In the full record display for the span, here is the Notes box with the add note that you need:

Here is the Create built number box in the full record display for the span:

If you click Start here, the add note will appear inside the Create built number box:

Since the add note says to add "the numbers following 599 in 599.2-599.8," the number building tool has displayed the full record for 599 *Mammalia (Mammals).  Here is the Hierarchy box:

Maybe you can remember the 599 number for whales that you found earlier in the Relative Index and quickly drill down to it in the Hierarchy box, or maybe you need to browse the Relative Index again—but one way or another, you need to find the full record for 599.5 *Cetacea and Sirenia.  Here is the Hierarchy box for 599.5:

Here is the Notes box for 599.5 *Cetacea and Sirenia:

The class-here note ("Class here … whales …") signals that whales approximate the whole of 599.5 and that therefore you can add further for a work about whales. There is a footnote (marked by an asterisk) with an add note: "*Add as instructed under 592-599." You are forbidden to use that add note according to the add note at 333.9592-333.9598 Subdivisions for specific kinds of mammals: "…. then add further as instructed under 333.7-333.9 (not as instructed under 592-599)…." When you click Add in the Create built number box, you get:

The number in the title bar of the Create built number box has changed to 333.9595, and 599.5 *Cetacea and Sirenia now appears inside that box—along with the add note that you are forbidden to use! Luckily, the number building tool has displayed the full record for 333.7-333.9 Natural resources and energy, which has the add table that you are allowed to use. Unluckily, if you insist on adding from 592-599 Specific taxonomic groups of animals, the number-building tool will not stop you: you need to read and think about the add notes in order to follow them correctly!

The add table under 333.7-333.9 Natural resources and energy has many different entries with notation to be added; you need to specify which you want to add.  You click to select 16 Conservation and protection:

That leads to the full record display for the add table entry 333.7-333.9:16 Conservation and protection.   Here is the Hierarchy box:

If you click Add in the Create built number box, the fully built number 333.959516 will appear in the title bar, and the add table notation will appear inside the box:

If you click Save in the Create built number box, the newly built number will appear in the Hierarchy box:

You now have an opportunity to modify or add to the user terms associated with the new number, as explained in the "User Terms with Number Building" part of the WebDewey training modules.  Enough for now! You have successfully built the number.   

Keys to success:

• Find the record with the add note that you will use. That may be a record for a number span, where the base number that you will use is specified only in the add note.
• Do not try to start with a built number and add further, because you will not be able to get the necessary add note to appear inside the Create built number box.
• At each step, find the record with the relevant add note, display the full record so that the add note appears in the Notes box, and click Start or Add to get that add note to appear inside the Create built number box.
• If more than one add note appears in the Notes box, as when a complete add table is displayed, click to select the entry with the add note that you need. When only the one relevant add note is displayed in the Notes box, then click Start to get that add note to appear inside the Create built number box.
• Be sure to read and think about the add notes that you are using; while the number building tool will stop you from making some mistakes, it will not stop you from making all mistakes, especially not with complex add instructions.