One of my favorite things about WebDewey is the way users can contribute built numbers, sending them to me and my team for review for potential inclusion for all users. I love that wiki-esque model of collaborative building. With DDC, it’s also like watching the classification grow in real time. Sure, those numbers already exist in the sense that they’re already valid, but there’s something to be said for actually seeing the number in context.
Anything you contribute, we’ll review and make any necessary changes to. Here are some tips to build a number that we can publish quickly.
#1: Look for models
I do this too, even in our internal database. Whether I’m building a number or creating a new one, I look for similar numbers to be a model as a starting point. With built numbers, sometimes it’s as easy as swapping out one component for another, such as one subdivision or Table 2 number for a similar one. Some areas have so many existing built numbers, it’s really easy to gauge, such as 327.3-327.9 Foreign relations of specific continents, countries, localities.
The ”Synthesized number components” box of existing built numbers can help too, since it lays out the number’s components, with links to each. Just be aware, I’ve compared this box to a list of ingredients on food packaging, rather than a recipe. It tells you what’s inside, but not how to put them together. (Fortunately, it’s much easier to figure out that part from the list of components than it would be to reverse engineer a recipe from a list of ingredients!)
#2: Pick the right index terms
This can often be the hardest part of building a number, partially because it’s a place that an individual’s needs can diverge from those of users in general. Anything you save as a user term will be accessible through WebDewey’s search, which can make it helpful for naming topics of local interest. But the ideal index term for users in general will be the full meaning of the number.
For example, when attending a family member’s wedding last year, I made a quick visit to Fort Monroe, in Hampton, Virginia. Following instructions at 623.19, a work on the fort could class at 623.19755412 (or perhaps with history of the city at 975.5412, but let’s keep things simple). If I were a classifier in that area and saw many works about that fort, I might well want to name it in my index term so I could quickly call up that number when desired. But the real meaning of that number isn’t the specific fort: it’s forts in the city of Hampton. So the most appropriate Relative Index term is “Fortifications—military engineering—Hampton (Va.)”. If a user contributed that number, that’s the term we’d ultimately want attached to it.
Comments are a great way to log information specific to your work, or that of your institution, and WebDewey will also search the contents of comments. When contributing numbers, try to think of its broader utility for all users.
#3: Avoid building in tables
Tables 1-6, the external tables, are important to so much number building. I’m not saying don’t use them! But I’d avoid using a table number as a base number, even though WebDewey will allow it in many cases.
Why? There are examples of this in WebDewey after all, such as T1—0245, meaning works for scientists. It’s true that in many places, wherever you can use standard subdivisions, you can add 0245 to a number to express that works on that topic for scientists. But the number builder won’t actually allow you to add pre-built notation like that. The number builder works very literally, looking at add instructions at any given place to put together a number. It needs to be led to T1—024 to follow the add instructions there.
This also helps avoid some incorrect numbers. I know it can be tedious, but building things step by step can help avoid errors. These days, I mostly just publish built table numbers if they’re in areas with many existing built numbers, such as Table 3C, or where the index term would be particularly useful—and there’s a lot of overlap between those two situations.
#4: Go forth and build!
My last piece of advice is to not worry about the rest! If you’re in doubt, you’re welcome to send something through. Maybe we could get to a point where I’m inundated with hundreds of numbers a day and I can’t keep up, but right now, we’re far from that.
Following the tips above can help your number get through more quickly. And in large part, this post is about getting general advice out there, because I don’t have a good way of contacting individual users with questions about their contributions. I can only see the institution that contributed.
So with all that said, go forth and build! It’s a great first step to getting involved with the DDC editorial process.
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