025.431: The Dewey blog

What does it take to change something in the DDC?

Great question, and I’m glad you asked!

The DDC is always in a state of review.  These reviews may be one of several different reasons, but some of those could be the result of the presence of sufficient literary warrant (in a nutshell, at least 20 published works on a subject), a change of terminology as language and meaning evolves, or even a change in geopolitical boundaries.  Regardless of how the change is started, the process is the same for the suggested updates.

An idea is proposed to the editor and then the work begins.  A review of the topic’s treatment within the DDC and other systems, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) or subject-specific systems, such as Homosaurus, is made.  Is there disagreement or consensus across the platforms?  What is the best way to address the subject’s classification within the DDC?

Finding the literary warrant for the subject is then needed and if the current classification gives the best possibility of discovery by users.  Also examine the more specific subject headings under the broader Dewey classes. Would the proposal make a better classification home for multiple works?  Are there any historical reasons for the current classification?  This has to be considered as well when making changes.

Let’s say that there is enough literary warrant for a better classification for the subject’s works.  What happens next?  Decisions need to be made!  Is this something that needs a change to an existing topic or is it a new topic that isn’t covered within the DDC?  Either choice will also mean that you need to have a plan in place, especially if the change of classification could potentially be disruptive to the library systems that use the current number.

It's time to create the exhibit, or draft proposal, to showcase your work on the topic.  It doesn’t have to be long, but it does need to have an explanation of the current treatment of the subject, your research on the topic, and your recommendations for change (templates are available for this).  Submit this exhibit to the editors and they will take it from there.  There may be long discussions about the proposed change/addition, or a quick consensus to moving forward or the need for revision before further submission.

From here, your proposal will be submitted to the Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) which consists of ten librarians from around the world who give their input on acceptance or the need for revisions.  EPC meets online and in-person several times a year to vote on these proposal exhibits.  After a period for public comments, and if EPC determines that the exhibit is complete and correct, the DDC editors publish the changes in WebDewey.

We’d love to have your input on making the DDC more reflective of what is needed.  You can do this by emailing your suggestions to [email protected].  You can also check out https://sites.google.com/view/deweycontributors to see examples of the process.  We’d love to hear from you!

Help us prioritize with the WebDewey Functionality Survey

We’re constantly working on improvements to WebDewey. Some changes are in the works already, while others we have some idea of solutions but could use some help setting priorities. That’s where you come in!

The WebDewey Functionality Survey is live until Wednesday, April 19. It’s designed to be short and sweet, with five types of enhancements that you’ll rank from highest to lowest priority. And of course, there’s also a blank prompt where you can request any other sort of updates to WebDewey. (You’re always welcome to make suggestions for topical coverage in the DDC, but this survey is focused on WebDewey.)

I hope the survey will be largely self explanatory, but since I have a whole blog post to work with here, I thought I’d go into some more detail about the idea behind these five items.

A: Making number building in WebDewey easier

I love WebDewey’s number building tool, but I know some users prefer to build by hand. There are so many ways to build numbers in DDC that there will really never be a perfect number builder, but like WebDewey as a whole, it’s something we continue to iterate on. Where the number builder can’t follow the steps correctly, our developers can tweak the tool so it can. Prioritize this if you do a lot of number building… or especially if you try but run into trouble.

B: Have more built numbers available in WebDewey

Spoiler alert: we’re always going to be adding new built numbers regardless of how this item does! But it will still be helpful to know how desirable this is compared to other possibilities. Prioritize this if you, like me, take a “the more the merrier” approach to available numbers.

C: The ability to search WebDewey with special characters and punctuation

For better or worse, WebDewey search is not Google. While many characters beyond a basic Latin alphabet are supported, you may still run into issues. For example, the screenshot we used in the survey shows how you can find results by copying and pasting the LCSH form Qurʼan, but none with Qur’an. Can you see the difference? I can’t, as I write here in Microsoft Word! The latter uses the single quotation mark found on most keyboards. It works in Wikipedia, but not WebDewey. Prioritize this if you often find yourself running into problems like this.

D: The ability to filter recent changes in WebDewey by project

When the update notification feature was rolled out, we added the functionality to be able to search or filter updates by specific projects, usually EPC exhibits. We already used such codes internally. For example, any record changed as a result of EPC 143A-S94.1 Ionian Islands would have the code “EPC 143A-S94.1”. You can do that now, but in the process, you’ll sometimes see other internal codes that don’t have much meaning for a WebDewey user. I’d like to clean this area up a bit before really touting it. Prioritize this if you like to follow EPC’s work and want to get a sense of everywhere that a given project touches.

E: Clickable links in over-over hierarchy boxes for quicker navigation in WebDewey

You know how you can hover over those downward arrows next to a number to get a quick view of the subdivisions (or children) of that number? If not, you do now! This can be a great way to glimpse at other numbers up and down the hierarchy and save you some clicks. This enhancement would take that a step further, making those numbers clickable links to let you hop directly to numbers of interest. Prioritize this if you make good use of WebDewey’s hierarchy (good for you!) and want to expedite that process.

I’m optimistic that eventually, we’ll get to all of these, but we’ll be looking for your feedback to help prioritize.