Why all the changes to records in these spans? Surely there is no reason to reclassify and rearrange these books?
871-878 Subdivisions for specific forms of Latin literature
881-888 Subdivisions for specific forms of classical Greek literature
Indeed, no reason that we know. The changes are almost all to the instructions for building numbers (with a few changes to the Relative Index entries). The resulting numbers are unchanged. Virgil’s Aeneid, for example, is still classed in 873.01 Epic poetry—Latin literature—Roman period.
Why change the instructions? Previously, there were add notes like this, formerly at 871-878 Subdivisions for specific forms of Latin literature:
Add to base number 87 as instructed at beginning of Table 3, e.g., Latin letters 876; however, observe the special interpretations of and exceptions to notation from Table 3 that appear below, e.g., Latin epic poetry and fiction 873
At 873 Latin epic poetry and fiction, there was a footnote add note: “Add as instructed under 871-878 and at beginning of Table 3.”
The problem was that the schedules were full of exceptions to the general pattern in Table 3. For classifiers, those exceptions were a nuisance and an opportunity for error. The exceptions left the WebDewey number building tool completely baffled; it was constantly trying to build incorrect numbers—adding a new hazard for classifiers.
Our solution was to remove all the general instructions to “add as instructed in Table 3” and to provide specific instructions instead. We now mention Table 3 only where notation from Table 3 can be added without any need to warn about exceptions. (Would you have preferred that we revise 871-878 and 881-888 to match Table 3 and ask you to reclassify and rearrange the books? We didn’t think so.)
For an example of the new approach, at 873 Latin epic poetry and fiction, there is no add note. At 873.01-873.04 Specific periods are these instructions:
Add to base number 873.0 notation 871-878:1-4 from the period table under 871-878, e.g., Latin epic poetry of the Roman period 873.01; then, for works by or about more than one author, add the numbers following T3B—10 in notation T3B—1001-T3B—1009 from Table 3B, e.g., collections of Latin epic poetry from the Roman period 873.0108
Subdivisions are added for Latin epic poetry, for Latin fiction, or both
Following these instructions, we can use the number building tool to build a number for The Romances of Alexander: 873.03080351 Latin epic poetry and fiction—Medieval period—Specific persons—collections. The Synthesized number components box shows the elements used to build the number:
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