Individual biographies in 930-990

If you’re used to standard subdivisions, it can be easy to slip into “autopilot” when classifying. Working on a biography? Add T1—092 Biography to the end. Like many heuristics, or mental shortcuts, this can save you time, but make sure you’re keeping an eye out for exceptions. Don’t do this if you’ve already added another standard subdivision, for example (although, because T1—092 is quite high on the Table 1 table of preference, you might well want to replace the other standard subdivision with –092!).

One big area where you should be careful with biographies is the 900s. This post will focus on 930-990, for the history of specific places. As you probably know, standard DDC practice is to class biographies in the respective subject area, usually with –092 at the end, e.g., 020.92 for a biography of S.R. Ranganathan. What sort of biographies belong in 930-990? Our guide here is the extensive 930-990 Manual note, and specifically the Biography section.

This note covers “biographies of persons who lived during the historical period and also for biographies of historians and historiographers of that period”. But this does not override the general practice described in the previous paragraph here. Ranganathan lived in 20^th-century India, but a biography of him would not class at 954.04 1947-1971 in Indian history.

So what do we mean by “persons who lived during the historical period”? It could mean a biography of an “ordinary” person, used as an illustration of what life was like in that place and time. Consider this example, a diary of a teenager in 1920s Portland, Oregon. Its DDC number, 979.549042092, has –092 added to a built number for Multnomah County, Oregon in 1918-1945. The Manual note we’re referring to specifically allows the use of –092 here even when the subject doesn’t approximate the whole.

You could also be in 930-990 for an individual biography of a public figure. National leaders, such as presidents, prime ministers, and monarchs, should typically have their biographies at the highest office they reached. Even when there’s a specific number for a leader’s administration, such as 973.932 Administration of Barack Obama, 2009-2017, add –092 if appropriate. A comprehensive biography on Barack Obama himself would class at 973.932092. Consult the Manual note for T1—092 for more information on biographies of public figures.

Finally, individual biographies of historians and historiographers class at the historical place and period they studied, plus –092. This means they could share a number with some of their subjects. Works classed at 942.055092 (base number 942.055 Reign of Elizabeth I, 1558-1603) could include biographies of Elizabeth I herself as well as historians of Elizabethan England, regardless of where and when those historians lived.

I hope you’ve found this helpful! Stay tuned for a future blog post on collected biographies in 930-990.