Note: See also posts 1 and 2 on using the number building tool in music, and posts on using the number building tool in literature and in natural resources. The general approach to building numbers described those posts can be applied in any discipline. See also a previous post on using the number building tool with standard subdivisions.
Are you having problems using the WebDewey number building tool with standard subdivisions that have add tables?
If so, let’s try an example: Women in Eighteenth-Century Scotland: Intimate, Intellectual and Public Lives. Its first LCSH is "Women—Scotland—History—18th century."
Here is a summary of the instructions for using the WebDewey number building tool to build the DDC number 305.40941109033 Women—Scotland—18th century. (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 |
305.4 |
Start |
305.4 |
Women |
T1--093-T1--099 |
Add |
305.409 |
Specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds |
T2--411 |
Add |
305.409411 |
Scotland |
T1--093-T1--099:0901-0905 |
Add |
305.409411090 |
Historical periods |
T1--09033 |
Add |
305.40941109033 |
18th century, 1700-1799 |
Does that answer all your questions about how to build the number? If not, keep reading for details.
Here is a description of the book from the book’s "companion website," a description also partly included in the cataloging record:
Divided into three sections, covering women's intimate, intellectual and public lives, this interdisciplinary volume offers articles on women's work, criminal activity, clothing, family, education, writing, travel and more. Applying tools from history, art anthropology, cultural studies, and English literature, it draws on a wide-range of sources, from the written to the visual, to highlight the diversity of women's experiences and to challenge current male-centric historiographies.
Browsing the Relative Index for "women" yields many entries. What you need is the interdisciplinary number for women—the schedule number linked to the unsubdivided term "Women":
Women 305.4
Clicking 305.4 leads to the full record display for 305.4 Women. Here is the Hierarchy box:
Here is the Notes box for 305.4 Women:
The class-here note confirms that 305.4 is the interdisciplinary number for women—the number you need as base number.
If you click down in the hierarchy box, starting with 305.409 History, geographic treatment, biography, then 305.4094 Women—Europe, you will reach the built number 305.40941 Women--Great Britain (note: built numbers that appear only in the Relative Index in the print DDC are marked in WebDewey by orange puzzle pieces, e.g., 305.40941, while built numbers that need to appear also in schedules and tables are not thus marked in WebDewey, e.g., 305.409):
Should you click Start in the Create built number box in the record for 305.40941 to build 305.40941109033 Women—Scotland—18th century? Not recommended. You can use the existing built number as a clue that you are going in the right direction, but to build a number using the number building tool, you should start at the beginning with the base number 305.4 Women. The number building tool does not support starting with a built number and extending it. If you try to do that, the MARC 765 Synthesized Number Components fields added to the record by the number building tool will not correctly identify the components of the built number or show that it was correctly built.
The record for 305.4 has no add note, but you don’t need an add note when you first add a standard subdivision—only when you need to extend it beyond the first add. That is, you can add T1—09 to 305.4 without an add note, but to extend the number by adding notation from Table 2, you need an add note.
Here is the Create built number box for 305.4 at the beginning:
When you click Start, the base number 305.4 appears in the title bar, and the Add, Edit local, and Cancel buttons replace the Start button:
The number building tool displays the first record of Table 1 Standard Subdivisions. Here is the Hierarchy box:
In the Hierarchy box you click down to the number span that has the add note that you need and display the full record. Here is the Hierarchy box for T1—093-T1—099 Specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds:
That record has a large Notes box that includes an add note that introduces a long add table. Although there are add notes under specific entries in the add table, what you need now is the add note that introduces the add table:
If you click Add, that add note will appear inside the Create built number box, and the number in the title bar will be extended to 305.409:
The number building tool will display the Table 2 span specified in the add note. Here is the Hierarchy box:
You can browse the Relative Index for "Scotland" or click down in the Hierarchy box to reach the Table 2 notation for Scotland. Here is the Hierarchy box for T2—411 Scotland:
When you click Start, T2—411 Scotland appears inside the Create built number box, and the number in the title bar is extended to 305.409411.
The number building tool redisplays the record for T1—093-T1—099 Specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds. Now you need to study the long add table introduced by "then add further as follows." In the add table, you find the entry
0901-0905 Historical periods:
When you click 0901-0905, T1—093-T1—099:0901-0905
Historical periods is displayed as a separate record. Here is the Hierarchy box:
The Notes box for that record has only one add note:
When you click Add, the add note appears inside the Create built number box, and the number in the title bar is extended to 305.409411090:
Now the number building tool displays the full record for the span named in the add note. Here is the Hierarchy box for T1—0901-T1—0905 Historical periods:
You can browse the Relative Index for "18th century" or "eighteenth century" or click down in the Hierarchy box to find T1—09033 18th century, 1700-1799. Here is the Hierarchy box for T1—09033:
When you click Add, T1—09033 18th century, 1700-1799 appears inside the Create built number box and the number in the title bar is extended to 305.40941109033.
When you click Save, the newly built number appears 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 base number that you need.
• Do not start with a built number.
• If you are adding a standard subdivision, you don’t need an add note inside the Create built number box—for the first add.
• At each step beyond the first add, find the record with the relevant add note, display the full record so that the add note appears in the Notes box, and click Add to get that add note to appear inside the Create built number box.
• If a complete add table is displayed in the Notes box, but you don’t at the moment need a specific entry in the add table—rather, what you need is the add note at the beginning that introduces the add table—then click Add with the full Notes box displayed, to get that introductory add note to appear inside the Create built number box.
• If a complete add table is displayed in the Notes box, and you need a specific entry in the add table, click to select the entry that you need. The entry will be displayed as a separate record, with only the one relevant add note displayed in the Notes box; then click Add to get that add note to appear inside the Create built number box.
A final note of caution: the number building tool allows free adding of standard subdivisions—including in circumstances where they should not be added. For example, the number building tool will not stop you from violating this basic rule given at the start of Table 1: "Do not add one standard subdivision to another standard subdivision unless specifically instructed."
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