The DDC is launching a new community engagement initiative where librarians and classifiers just like you have the opportunity to propose new and edited Dewey numbers. Crafting a new number may seem intimidating, but I’m here to tell you that it’s easier to succeed in editorial work than you may think.
I arrived at the Dewey offices two months ago with a semester-long Cataloging and Classification class under my belt, along with some excitement and determination. Since then, I have built a proposal for a new podcasting hierarchy from the bottom up. It’s true that researching and proposing a new Dewey hierarchy does have a bit of a learning curve, but it’s also true that the process isn’t inaccessible to people like you and me, the editorially uninitiated.
Here’s a quick rundown of my experience drafting a DDC proposal.
I began by looking for literary warrant. I searched WorldCat for books with the subjects “Podcasts,” and “Podcasting.” Once I had established that there were enough works on this topic to justify its own number, I looked at where these items are currently classed. A good clue that a topic may need to be reworked in the DDC is if books on the topic are scattered throughout the classification. As I suspected, this was the case for books on podcasting. While scattering is to be expected for very broad topics, it can be a problem for a subject as specific as podcasting. Another indication that a new podcasting number is needed was that even when podcasting books were classed together, the DDC number under which they were located did not make logical sense.
My next step was to explore the DDC itself and look for places in the existing hierarchy where my proposed topic seemed to naturally fit. I accomplished this by searching for topics similar to podcasting, like radio and television. I analyzed the hierarchies of these parallel subjects and used their structure to inspire my new podcasting hierarchy.
While there’s more to building a new number than these preliminary steps, they’re a good place to start. I am not a subject matter expert in podcasting. After completing the research outlined above, however, I now have a better sense for how the topic might fit into the existing schedules.
We know that the DDC isn’t perfect. We also know that our user community is brimming with ideas on how to improve the classification. Join us in editorial work and put those ideas into action! You may not realize it yet, but you already have all the tools you need to propose your very own Dewey number. Reference our Editorial Project Checklist and/or get in touch with the editors at dewey@oclc.org for more information on how to begin your own DDC proposal.
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