025.431: The Dewey blog

New and improved

Those of you working in 583–584 in the past several days may have noticed some changes. Over a year ago we announced a proposal to revise the development under 583–584 to adopt the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group’s 2009 classification for flowering plants (APG III) as the basis for the DDC’s treatment of flowering plants. A follow-up blog posting earlier this year responded to some of the comments received from reviewers of the proposed revision. This revised development has now been rolled out to WebDewey.

In Dewey speak, the 583–584 revision qualifies as an extensive revision, having been prepared with little reference to earlier editions. In the past you would have reviewed the changes for an extensive revision through comparative and equivalence tables in the next print edition. But the times they are a-changin’ (to quote this year’s Nobel Literature Prize winner), and we are now making more extensive use of history notes to keep you apprised of how the meaning of a class has changed over time / of where a topic associated with a class may have come from or gone to.

For example, our understanding of what belongs together in the order designated as Saxifragales has shifted significantly, depending on whether the circumscription of the order reflects plant morphology or molecular phylogenetics. This order was previously classed in 583.72 Saxifragales. An extensive set of relocation notes under this number (now 583.72 Geraniales) indicates where plants previously considered part of Saxifragales are now to be found. At the same time an extensive set of formerly-located-in notes in the current 583.44 Saxifragales indicates where plants considered in APG III to be part of this order were previously classed.

The changes seen in WebDewey for the extensive revision under 583–584 are joined by other changes approved by EPC in conjunction with a recent electronic meeting, EPC 139A. We will be posting PDFs showing these updates later this week.

Several of our training modules have been changed to reflect changes in the angiosperm revision or other changes associated with EPC Meetings 139 and 139A:

• Introduction to 600
• Internal Tables Number Building
• Life Sciences Number Building
• Medicine Number Building
• User Terms with Number Building

In the coming weeks you can expect to see additional posts here exploring some of the other changes from EPC Meetings 139 and 139A.

Winners in the Dewey Palindrome Challenge

In a December blog posting, I expressed surprise that the longest DDC Edition 23 numbers I could locate in our database or in WorldCat that are palindromes—the numbers read the same forwards or backwards—were "only" 7 digits long. We declared a contest to see who could find the longest valid DDC number that is a palindrome.

Your responses have delighted. I knew there had to be Dewey palindromes longer than 7 digits. You have found much longer Dewey palindromes than that.

You will note that, in general, the longer the number is, the less likely that literature on the subject actually exists.

Here are the longer palindromes that you have identified and have shared with us. Below each number you will find where any add instruction used in building the number is found. We have not mentioned anything in connection with adding standard subdivision notation or in connection with adding Table 2 notation to T1—09—until we get to the final number.

Contributed by Mark Behrens, Library of Congress (12 digits):

DDC number	Meaning
330.977779033	Economic conditions of Taylor County, Iowa, in the 20th century	=
330.9	Economic situation and conditions	+
T2—77779	Taylor County, Iowa	+
(977.7)033	[Iowa] 1945–1999 ("Class here 20th century")

Add instruction found at 330.93–330.99.

 Contributed by Andrew Gloe, National Library of Australia (12 digits):

DDC number	Meaning
570.976679075	Collecting biological objects in Le Flare County, Oklahoma	=
57(0)	Biology	+
T1—09	Specific continents, countries, localities	+
T2—76679	Le Flare County, Oklahoma	+
T1—093–099:075	Collecting objects

Add instruction found at T1—093–099.

Contributed by Dr. Christian Baumann, German National Library (13 digits, 15 digits, 17 digits):

DDC number	Meaning
631.4510154136	Thermochemistry and thermodynamics of conservation tillage	=
631.451	Conservation tillage	+
T1—015	Scientific principles	+
(5)41.36	Thermochemistry and thermodynamics

Add instruction found at T1—015.

DDC number	Meaning
623.4510154326	Thermal analysis of charge-containing devices	=
623.451	Charge-containing devices	+
T1—015	Scientific principles	+
(5)43.26	Thermal analysis

Add instruction found at T1—015.

DDC number	Meaning
677.474202474776	Manufacturing of textiles made of acrylics for people whose occupation involves interior decoration of dining rooms	=
677.4742	[Manufacturing of textiles made of] Acrylics	+
T1—024	The subject for people in specific occupations	+
747.76	[Interior decoration of] Dining rooms

Add instruction found at T1—024.

DDC number	Meaning
355.34340704343553	Education and research of psychological warfare in the German Landkreis Bad Dürkheim	=
355.3434	Psychological warfare	+
T1—070	[Education and research] Geographic treatment	+
T2—4343553	Landkreis Bad Dürkheim (a geographic extension in the German DDC)

Add instruction found at T1--0701-0709.

Contributed by Tore Brattli, University of Tromsø (13 digits, 15 digits, 17 digits, 18 digits, and 24 digits [!]):

DDC number	Meaning
331.2590952133	Training, worker security, regulation of worker conduct in Gumma prefecture, Japan	=
331.259	Training, worker security, regulation of worker conduct	+
T1—09	Specific continents, countries, localities	+
T2—52133	Gumma prefecture (Gumma-ken), Japan

 

DDC number	Meaning
332.175202571233	Directories of persons and organizations holding bank deposits in the central region of Alberta	=
332.1752	[Bank] Deposits	+
T1—025	Directories of persons and organizations	+
T2—71233	Central region of Alberta

Add instruction found at T1—025.

DDC number	Meaning
304.87494049478403	Encyclopedia of migration to east central counties of New Jersey from Bellinzona district, Switzerland	=
304.8	Movement of people	+
T2—7494	East central counties of New Jersey	+
0	(Facet indicator)
T2—494784	Bellinzona district (Bellinzona Distretto), Switzerland	+
T1—03	Dictionaries, encyclopedias, concordances

Add instruction found at 304.83–304.89.

DDC number	Meaning
338.470274472074833	Museums located in the central regions of Chile that focus on the economics of public libraries in the western parts of Russia	=
338.47	[Production [Secondary industries and services]] Subdivisions for products and services	+
027.4	Public libraries
T2—472	Western area of Russia
T1—074	Museums, collections, exhibits
T2—833	[Chile] Central regions

Add instructions found at 338.47001-338.47999, at 027.43–027.49 and at T1--074.

DDC number	Meaning
331.890410263362014098133	In Paraíba state, Brazil:  labor-management bargaining and disputes in libraries devoted to local taxes	=
331.89041	Labor-management bargaining and disputes in industries and occupations other than extractive, manufacturing, construction	+
026	Libraries and archives devoted to specific subjects	+
336.2014	Local taxes	+
T1—09	Specific continents, countries, localities
T2—8133	Paraíba state, Brazil

Add instructions found at 331.89041001-331.89041999 and at 026.001–026.999.

This last number—331.890410263362014098133—is remarkable for several reasons. There are, of course, the length of the number, the number of components going into the number, and its being a palindrome to boot. But I would also like to remark upon the meaning of the number and the addition of the standard subdivision. Those of you who check out the number-building process will likely notice that the span 336.2014093–336.2014099 has been bracketed and may think that it is not possible to add T1--093–T1-099 after having added 336.2014. The reason that it is valid is that the standard subdivision does not apply to the last component added, but to the whole of the number. This is set forth in section 8.11 of the Introduction, where it states: "Special care should be taken in adding standard subdivisions to built numbers, since the standard subdivision applies to the whole number and not just to part of the number."   Therefore, the specification of the locality Paraíba state, Brazil pertains to the whole of labor-management bargaining and disputes in libraries devoted to local taxes and not to the local taxes themselves. It is the specification of continent, country, or locality for local taxes that has been bracketed.

The gold medal goes to Tore Brattli, University of Tromsø, who has unequivocally established himself as the grand winner of the 2016 Dewey palindrome challenge. Dr. Christian Baumann, German National Library, has earned the silver medal, while the bronze medal is awarded jointly to Andrew Gloe, National Library of Australia, and Mark Behrens, Library of Congress. Congratulations, all!

Angiosperms: Comments Still Welcome

A blog posting from several months ago announced our intention to revise the development under 583–584 to adopt APG III as the basis for the DDC’s treatment of flowering plants (angiosperms) and directed interested parties to a draft outlining the specific changes proposed, available on the discussion paper page of the Dewey web site.

As we invite final comments (due by 31 January 2016), we would like to share our response to several significant, and related, issues raised by earlier commenters:

• APG III has been updated on the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (APWeb)
• APG IV is in preparation for publication
• The taxonomic hierarchy in Catalogue of Life is possibly a “best fit [among biological taxonomies] to many other data sources”

We have not been slavish in our adoption of APG III and have, in fact, already incorporated some of the changes seen on APWeb. Our plans are to confirm our organizational structure with APWeb before publication and make any adjustments necessary to represent established APG III thinking. Since the DDC treatment of angiosperms does not go below the family level, we anticipate, however, that most ongoing changes on APWeb will not affect the development of angiosperms in the DDC.

It appears that the most significant differences between APG III and APG IV will be a matter of lumping and splitting.  Our proposal already does some lumping of APG families, based on literary warrant. If supported by literary warrant, splitting can be accommodated easily through expansion. As a bibliographic classification, the DDC would probably never mirror APG III or any other source exactly; at the same time, the expressive hierarchical notation of the DDC facilitates representing changing consensus on lumping and splitting decisions. 

A brief exploration of the Catalogue of Life’s treatment of angiosperms provided for under 583 Magnoliopsida (Dicotyledons) revealed a structure that coincides significantly with APG III at the level of orders and families.  The single biggest set of discrepancies involves the split of 1 APG III order into 2 Catalogue of Life orders.  We will investigate the few discrepancies that exist between the Catalogue of Life and APG III structure of orders and families and may make changes accordingly.  At the same time, the Catalogue of Life lacks taxonomic groupings between classes and orders (e.g., core eudicots, asterids), and has no taxonomically-based linear sequence among taxonomic units, both of which play prominent roles in the DDC’s development of angiosperms. While the Catalogue of Life can be useful to us, we don’t see it replacing the various editions of the APG classification for us.

After making any adjustments noted above and publishing these changes to WebDewey, we expect to revisit angiosperms on a periodic basis (perhaps every 5 years) to determine if the DDC needs to change to reflect expert opinion as captured in the latest APG edition, APWeb, and Catalogue of Life.

Angiosperms

Several years ago the Swedish translation team asked us to consider the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group’s 2009 classification for flowering plants (APG III) and to revise the DDC as appropriate.  We now propose to revise the development under 583–584 to adopt APG III as the basis for the DDC’s treatment of flowering plants.  However, to avoid massive confusion, we propose to retain eudicots (dicotyledons) in 583 and monocots (monocotyledons) in 584, although the standard taxonomic order in APG III puts monocots before eudicots.

A draft outlining the specific changes involved is available on the discussion paper page of the Dewey web site.  If the classification of flowering plants is of interest to you, please review the draft and share your comments with us by 31 January 2016.

Pluto: Are we there yet?

Today, July 14, 2015, at 07:49 EDT, New Horizons, NASA’s interplanetary space probe (629.4354922, built with 629.4354 Planetary flights, plus notation 922 from 523.4922 Pluto) passed within 8,000 miles of the surface of the dwarf planet Pluto (523.4922).  NASA expects confirmation of the flyby and the spacecraft’s status at about 21:02 EDT tonight.

Launched in 2006, “New Horizons’ flyby of the dwarf planet and its five known moons is providing an up-close introduction to the solar system's Kuiper Belt, an outer region populated by icy objects ranging in size from boulders to dwarf planets.  Kuiper Belt objects, such as Pluto, preserve evidence about the early formation of the solar system” (http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150714-2). 

Previous blogs (here, here, and here) have discussed the demotion of Pluto to a dwarf planet and the impact on the DDC schedule.

In addition to its systems and scientific payload, New Horizons carries nine small but meaningful mementos (http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-102808a.html):

• Two US state quarters (737.4973, built with 737.49 Coins of specific countries, plus notation T2—73 United States), one from Florida where New Horizons launched and the other from Maryland where it was built;
• a piece of SpaceShipOne, the first privately funded spacecraft (629.47 Astronautical engineering [“Class here . . . spacecraft”]) to travel in space;
• a small container of the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh (520.92, built with 520 Astronomy & allied sciences, plus notation T1—092 Biography), the astronomer who discovered Pluto;
• a 1991 US postal stamp, bearing an artist’s rendering of Pluto and the caption “NOT YET EXPLORED” (769.56495234922, built with 769.564 Postage stamps depicting various specific subjects, plus notation 9 from 704.949 [Iconography of] Other specific subjects, plus notation 5234922 Pluto);
• two US flags (929.9273, built with 929.92 Flags, plus notation T2—73 United States); and
• two CD-ROMs (004.565 Optical storage [“Including CD-ROM . . . discs”]), one with photos of the New Horizons team members and one with the names of 434,738 people who signed up in advance.

 

WebDewey Number Building Tool: Standard Subdivisions and Three-Digit Numbers Ending with Zero: Part 1

Note: See also previous posts (1 and 2) on using the number building tool with standard subdivisions. See also posts 1 and 2 on using the number building tool in music, and posts on using the number building tool in literature and in natural resources. The general approach to building numbers described in those posts can be applied in any discipline. See also the WebDewey training modules for the WebDewey number building tool.

Are you having problems using the WebDewey number building tool to add standard subdivisions to three-digit numbers ending in zero?  If so, let’s start with the simplest case: a division number where no extra zeros are needed with standard subdivisions. (We’ll look at more complicated situations in subsequent blog posts.) Division numbers have two significant digits plus one placeholder zero, e.g., 550 Earth sciences.  Classifiers are taught to drop the placeholder zero when adding a standard subdivision to a division number.  We plan to teach the number building tool to drop that placeholder zero, but that has not happened yet. In the meanwhile, here are instructions on how to overcome the problem.

Let’s consider an encyclopedia of earth sciences, e.g.: Macmillan Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences.  Its first LCSH is "Earth sciences – Encyclopedias."

Browsing the Relative Index for "earth sciences" yields:

Earth sciences    550   

If we click to see the full record, we get this Hierarchy box:

The focus is 550 Earth sciences, with downward hierarchy showing some numbers built with standard subdivisions, all with one zero.  There is no indication that extra zeros are needed.  One step up in the hierarchy is an entry with the placeholder zero greyed out (550) and the heading edited for browsing purposes as found in the DDC Summaries:

550 Earth sciences & geology  

If we click to see the full record, we get this Hierarchy box:

In addition to the Hierarchy box, the full record has a Create Built Number box with the base number that we want: 55 without the placeholder zero:


 

If we click Start in that box, we get:



          

Now the Hierarchy box shows standard subdivisions:

 


In the Hierarchy box we click T1—03 Dictionaries, encyclopedias, concordances and get this Hierarchy box:


 

If we now click Add in the Create Built Number box, we get:


 

We have now built the number with the correct number of zeros.  If we click Save, the newly built number appears in the Hierarchy box:


 

We now have an opportunity to change the user term and add other user terms—but enough for now!  We have successfully built the number.

The key to success is to find the record with the placeholder zero greyed out, and click Start in that record.

Note: The WebDewey number building tool may be confused by bracketed standard subdivisions. For example, if there are bracketed entries indicating that standard subdivisions have been relocated from a double zero to a single zero (e.g., at 380 or 730), you will need to use Edit local to get the single zero.

Rosetta and Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko: 2014 Breakthrough of the Year

Science named the rendezvous of the Rosetta spacecraft with Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko as the 2014 breakthrough of the year. Here is the summary:

Science's Breakthrough of the Year is the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In November, Rosetta's lander, named Philae, captured headlines around the world by touching down for the first time on the surface of a comet. Now, the instrument-studded mother ship is keeping pace with the comet as it continues in its orbit, snapping pictures and analyzing the jets of gas that will spew from 67P as the comet nears its closest approach to the sun in August 2015. The information the craft sends back to Earth should give scientists valuable clues to how the solar system formed and where Earth got its chemicals—including the water that makes up an essential component of all known life.

Here are two excerpts from the 19 December 2014 Science article:

Whatever data Philae did manage to return will be significant, not least because 67P is just the seventh place beyond Earth explored by a lander. (Venus, Mars, the moon, Saturn's moon Titan, and two asteroids are the others.) Yet the importance of the landing was largely emotional and symbolic. Mission managers have suggested that 80% of the overall science return would come from Philae's mother ship, Rosetta, which reached the comet in August and has been orbiting it ever since, scrutinizing it from as close as 10 kilometers away. That broader achievement, and the cornucopia of information it is yielding, are what Science is celebrating as 2014's Breakthrough of the Year.
. . .

Much of Rosetta's power comes from its ability to inspect the comet at close range for months on end. The half-dozen or so previous missions to comets were all flybys that were over in hours.

More information can be found on the European Space Agency's web site.

We don’t yet have monographs based on the latest information from Rosetta, but the Rosetta mission was long in the making, and there are works about the plans for the current mission.  The mission was approved in 1993, and the launch was originally scheduled for 2003, with the intention to rendezvous with comet 46P Wirtanen; however, the launch was delayed, the opportunity to rendezvous as planned with that comet lost, and when the spacecraft was launched in 2004, it needed a new target.  The new target comet has its own LCSH: Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet.

Browsing the Relative Index for "comets" yields two unsubdivided numbers:

Comets T2--993
 
Comets 523.6

The Table 2 number (T2—993 Meteoroids and comets) is useful only for number building.  The number 523.6—the interdisciplinary number for comets—looks promising.  In the full record for 523.6 Comets, the Hierarchy box shows that 523.6 is the astronomy number as well as the interdisciplinary number for comets:

The full record for 523.63 Motion and orbits has this class-elsewhere note: "Class motion and orbits of specific comets in 523.64." There is a similar class-elsewhere note at 523.66 Physical phenomena and constitution: "Class physical phenomena and constitution of specific comets in 523.64."

We look at the full record for 523.64 Specific comets.  Here is the Hierarchy box:

Only Halley’s comet has its own number (523.642); other specific comets are classed in 523.64. A dissertation about Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet has been classed in 523.64:
The Emission of Large Dust Particles from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Constrained by Observation and Modelling of its Dust Trail.
 
Two LCSH have been editorially mapped to 523.64 Specific comets:
 
Hale-Bopp comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet

Here are works about these comets classed in 523.64 Specific comets:

Everybody's Comet: A Layman's Guide to Comet Hale-Bopp

The Comet Hale-Bopp Book: Guide to an Awe-Inspiring Visitor from Deep Space

Radio Observations and Theories of Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet

What about earlier works treating the Rosetta mission? The New Rosetta Targets: Observations, Simulations and Instrument Performances, published in 2004, is summarized as follows:

Includes the papers presented at the workshop on "The New Rosetta targets, observations, simulations and instrument performances", held in Capri, in 2003. This work covers the fields of observations of the Rosetta targets, laboratory experiments and theoretical simulation of cometary processes, and the expected performances of Rosetta experiments.

Rosetta’s ten-year trip to Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet allowed for secondary scientific targets—e.g., flybys of two asteroids—but the table of contents shows a heavy emphasis on comets, some chapters relating to comets in general, many focusing on Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet. The table of contents also has much about the special instruments and systems for observing Rosetta’s targets—but it is not limited to instrumentation. This work has been classed in 523.6 Comets.  Another version, published in 2011, seems to have the same table of contents, but has been classed in 523.64 Specific comets; probably the classifier felt that there was enough emphasis on the new main target to justify classing by predominance in 523.64 Specific comets.   

Another work, Rosetta: ESA's Mission to the Origin of the Solar System, is summarized as follows:

ROSETTA: ESA's Mission to the Origin of the Solar System is partially reprinted, with updates and corrections, from Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 128/1-4, 2007. This is the first hard cover book on Rosetta to discuss science and instrumentation.

This work has information about Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet but more about the Rosetta instrumentation that could be used for any comet—and yet it is not limited to instrumentation. It has been classed in 523.6 Comets.  

WebDewey Number Building Tool: Natural Resources

Note: The general approach to building numbers described here can be applied in any discipline. See also posts 1 and 2 on using number building tool in music, and post on number building in literature.

Are you having problems using the WebDewey number building tool with the add table at 333.7-333.9 Natural resources and energy?

If so, let’s try an example:  Endangered Whales: Information for Teachers. Its first LCSH is "Whales—Conservation."

Here is a summary of the instructions for using the WebDewey number building tool to build the DDC number 333.959516 Cetacea—resource economics—conservation.  (The format of the summary is modeled on the tables used in the WebDewey training modules for the WebDewey number building tool.)

 

Navigate to this number / span	Click	Number built so far	Caption of last number / notation added
333.9592-333.9598	Start	333.959	Subdivisions for specific kinds of mammals
599.5	Add	333.9595	*Cetacea and Sirenia
333.7-333.9:16	Add	333.959516	Conservation and protection

Does that answer all your questions about how to build the number?  If not, keep reading for details.

Browsing the Relative Index for "whales" yields seven entries, among them:

Whales 599.5
 …
Whales--resource economics 333.9595
Whales--zoology 599.5
 
Clicking 333.9595 leads to the full record display for the built number 333.9595 Cetacea--resource economics.  The full-record display for a built number has minimal content.  Here is the Relative Index Terms box for 333.9595; it includes the "Whales—resource economics" entry:

(Background information: The caption for a built number in WebDewey is either the Relative Index entry that most correctly represents the scope of the number, or the first entry in alphabetic order—the latter a default when the most representative entry has not been designated.  In this case, "Cetacea--resource economics" is both the most representative entry and the first in alphabetic order.)   

Here is the Hierarchy box for 333.9595 (note: built numbers are marked with orange puzzle pieces):

Should you click Start in the Create built number box in the record for 333.9595 to build 333.959516 Cetacea—resource economics—conservation? No!  To build that number, you need an add note, and there is no add note in the record for a built number.  To get the add note, you can look up in the Hierarchy box and click the number span immediately above the entries with orange puzzle pieces: 333.9592-333.9598 Subdivisions for specific kinds of mammals.  In the full record display for the span, here is the Hierarchy box:

In the full record display for the span, here is the Notes box with the add note that you need:

Here is the Create built number box in the full record display for the span:

If you click Start here, the add note will appear inside the Create built number box:

Since the add note says to add "the numbers following 599 in 599.2-599.8," the number building tool has displayed the full record for 599 *Mammalia (Mammals).  Here is the Hierarchy box:

Maybe you can remember the 599 number for whales that you found earlier in the Relative Index and quickly drill down to it in the Hierarchy box, or maybe you need to browse the Relative Index again—but one way or another, you need to find the full record for 599.5 *Cetacea and Sirenia.  Here is the Hierarchy box for 599.5:

Here is the Notes box for 599.5 *Cetacea and Sirenia:

The class-here note ("Class here … whales …") signals that whales approximate the whole of 599.5 and that therefore you can add further for a work about whales. There is a footnote (marked by an asterisk) with an add note: "*Add as instructed under 592-599." You are forbidden to use that add note according to the add note at 333.9592-333.9598 Subdivisions for specific kinds of mammals: "…. then add further as instructed under 333.7-333.9 (not as instructed under 592-599)…." When you click Add in the Create built number box, you get:

The number in the title bar of the Create built number box has changed to 333.9595, and 599.5 *Cetacea and Sirenia now appears inside that box—along with the add note that you are forbidden to use! Luckily, the number building tool has displayed the full record for 333.7-333.9 Natural resources and energy, which has the add table that you are allowed to use. Unluckily, if you insist on adding from 592-599 Specific taxonomic groups of animals, the number-building tool will not stop you: you need to read and think about the add notes in order to follow them correctly!

The add table under 333.7-333.9 Natural resources and energy has many different entries with notation to be added; you need to specify which you want to add.  You click to select 16 Conservation and protection:

That leads to the full record display for the add table entry 333.7-333.9:16 Conservation and protection.   Here is the Hierarchy box:

If you click Add in the Create built number box, the fully built number 333.959516 will appear in the title bar, and the add table notation will appear inside the box:

If you click Save in the Create built number box, the newly built number will appear in the Hierarchy box:

You now have an opportunity to modify or add to the user terms associated with the new number, as explained in the "User Terms with Number Building" part of the WebDewey training modules.  Enough for now! You have successfully built the number.   

Keys to success:

• Find the record with the add note that you will use. That may be a record for a number span, where the base number that you will use is specified only in the add note.
• Do not try to start with a built number and add further, because you will not be able to get the necessary add note to appear inside the Create built number box.
• At each step, find the record with the relevant add note, display the full record so that the add note appears in the Notes box, and click Start or Add to get that add note to appear inside the Create built number box.
• If more than one add note appears in the Notes box, as when a complete add table is displayed, click to select the entry with the add note that you need. When only the one relevant add note is displayed in the Notes box, then click Start to get that add note to appear inside the Create built number box.
• Be sure to read and think about the add notes that you are using; while the number building tool will stop you from making some mistakes, it will not stop you from making all mistakes, especially not with complex add instructions.

Informatics

Sometimes it seems that every field wants its own informatics subfield.  For example, in the health and medicine arena, you might come across health informatics, consumer health informatics, community health informatics, public health informatics, disease informatics, medical informatics, clinical Informatics, nursing informatics, dental informatics, translational bioinformatics, medical imaging informatics, and the list goes on.  But it isn't only health and medicine that have gotten on the informatics bandwagon.  You might also come across museum informatics, business informatics, cheminformatics, education informatics, environmental informatics, legal informatics, music informatics, and on and on.

Since it's so popular, it would be good to find out just exactly what informatics is.  (Good luck with that endeavor!)  But, of course, informatics isn't something that occurs in nature, whose nature can be discovered.  Informatics is a label put on a set of perspectives, activities, phenomena etc., found useful in some context and varying across contexts.  The range of activities/phenomena belonging under the informatics umbrella is quite broad, including, inter alia, clinical decision support systems, interoperable electronic health records, identifying a consensus classification of biological organisms, the simulation of neural systems of specific animals, virtual screening of large libraries of chemical compounds, magnetic resonance imaging, in-car navigation systems, case-based legal prediction,  optical music recognition, etc.  What all versions of informatics share is a focus on the interaction of information and computation.

In the DDC, informatics is mentioned in the schedules in two places:  004 Computer science (indexed by the Relative Index heading "Informatics—computer science") and 020 Library and information sciences (indexed by the Relative Index heading "Informatics—information science").  No interdisciplinary number for informatics has been identified, since works on informatics almost invariably treat the informatics of specific fields.  The point of listing informatics in the class-here notes at 004 and 020 is to motivate the giving, at both locations, of the following scatter class-elsewhere note:  "Class informatics of a specific subject with the subject, plus notation T1—0285, e.g., bioinformatics 570.285."

Accordingly, we find the following titles on the informatics of specific subjects classed in the Dewey numbers indicated:

Title:   Medical device data and modeling for clinical decision making
Topic:  Medical informatics
LCSH:  Medical informatics
DDC number:  610.285 (610 Medicine and health +  T1—0285 Computer applications)

Title:   Nursing informatics : where technology and caring meet
Topic:  Nursing informatics
LCSH:  Nursing informatics; Information storage and retrieval systems -- Nursing
DDC number:  610.730285 (610.73 Nursing and services of allied health personnel +  T1—0285 Computer applications)

Title:   Information technology in pharmacy : an integrated approach
Topic:  Pharmacy informatics
LCSH:  Pharmacy informatics; Pharmaceutical services -- Information technology
DDC number:  615.10285 (615.1 Drugs [Materia medica] + T1—0285 Computer applications)

Title:   Informatics for materials science and engineering : data-driven discovery for accelerated experimentation and application
Topic:  Materials informatics
LCSH:  Materials science -- Data processing
DDC number:  620.110285 (620.11 Engineering materials + T1—0285 Computer applications)

Title:   Semantic modeling and interoperability in product and process  engineering : a technology for engineering informatics
Topic:  Manufacturing informatics
LCSH:  Production engineering -- Data processing
DDC number:  670.285 (670 Manufacturing +  T1—0285 Computer applications)

Sea Turtles: Zoology, Conservation Technology, Resource Economics

Works about sea turtles commonly treat them from the perspectives of zoology, conservation technology, or resource economics. If you browse the Relative Index for "Sea turtles," you find entries for the topic in three different disciplines:

Sea turtles                                         597.928
 
Sea turtles--conservation technology      639.977928
 
Sea turtles--resource economics             333.957928

The number 597.928 appears directly opposite the term "Sea turtles" with no subheading—an indication that it is the interdisciplinary number.

Class works on the zoology of sea turtles and interdisciplinary works on sea turtles in 597.928 Chelonioidea (Sea turtles).  In the upward hierarchy for 597.928 is 590 Animals (Zoology). An example of a work classed in 597.928 is Sea Turtles: An Extraordinary Natural History of Some Uncommon Turtles.

If one is familiar with the 590s, in which many numbers can be built following the add instructions under 592-599 Specific taxonomic groups of animals, one might expect to find sea turtles at a built number for turtles in the marine environment.  In other words, one might expect to start with 597.92 Chelonia, follow the add footnote "Add as instructed under 592-599" and add 1 from 592-599: 1 General topics of natural history of animals, then follow the instruction to add "the numbers following 591 in 591.3-591.7" and add 7 from 591.7 Animal ecology, animals characteristic of specific environments, then follow the instruction at 591.71-591.78 Specific topics in animal ecology; specific environments to add "the numbers following 577 in 577.1-577.8" and add 7 from 577.7 Marine ecology, to build 597.92177 Marine turtles. However, the number 597[.92177] Marine turtles is bracketed (to show that it is invalid), with a do-not-use note: "Do not use; class in 597.928."

Class works that focus on the leatherback turtle in a subdivision of the broad number for sea turtles: 597.9289 Dermochelyidae (Leatherback turtle).  An example of a work classed in 597.9289 is Leatherback Turtle: The World's Heaviest Reptile.

Class works that focus on the technology of saving sea turtles from extinction in 639.977928 Sea turtles—conservation technology.  That number has 639.9 Conservation of biological resources and 600 Technology in its upward hierarchy.  It appears already built in WebDewey: built with base number 639.97 Specific kinds of animals plus 7928 from 597.928 Chelonioidea (Sea turtles), following the add note at 639.971-639.978 Specific kinds of animals other than mammals. An example of a work classed in 639.977928 is Saving Sea Turtles: Extraordinary Stories from the Battle against Extinction.

Class broad works about sea turtles as a biological resource that include economic aspects in 333.957928 Sea turtles--resource economics. That number has 333.95 Biological resources and 330 Economics in the upward hierarchy. The number 333.957928 appears already built in WebDewey: built with base number 333.957 Reptiles and amphibians plus 928 from 597.928 Chelonioidea (Sea turtles), following the add note at 333.9578-333.9579 Amphibians, specific reptiles. More specific numbers can be built using the same add note, e.g., for Assessment of Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) Fishery and Non-Fishery Interactions in Atlantic Canadian Waters: 333.95792890916344 Leatherback turtle--resource economics--Gulf of Saint Lawrence, coastal waters of Newfoundland, coastal waters of eastern Nova Scotia.  (The area number T2—16344 Gulf of Saint Lawrence, coastal waters of Newfoundland, coastal waters of eastern Nova Scotia best reflects the Canadian portion of the summer range of the leatherback turtle: see the map in the Canadian Geographic article "Leatherback Sea Turtle: Endangered Species.") Here is a summary of the number-building process in WebDewey: