025.431: The Dewey blog

New Table 2 notation for Bangkok

With the exception of a cold snap around Christmas, it’s been a very mild winter here in Washington, DC. Still, it’s nice to think of somewhere warmer. Bangkok, perhaps. We had a request from Jamie King, a public librarian in Illinois, to provide for Bangkok in Table 2 due to high literary warrant.

According to Wikipedia, “Bangkok is among the world's top tourist destinations, and has been named the world's most visited city consistently in several international rankings.” It’s also a major example of a primate city. That’s a fun concept to share with any geography nerds in your life (I say, as one of them), where a city is disproportionately large in population and influence within a country. In fact, Bangkok is ten times larger than Chiang Mai, the country’s second largest city.

You see where I’m going with this. This week, we authorized T2—5933 Bangkok, continued from T2—593 Thailand. Now you can express Bangkok wherever standard subdivisions are used. While the basic structure of 930-990 is built from Table 2 anyway, we also explicitly gave 959.33 Bangkok, for the history of the city, and special provisions to express specific concepts (e.g., ethnic groups) or time periods in it.

When we develop a country in Table 2, we usually give all of its first-level subdivisions, which the editorial rules allow. Why didn’t we do that with Thailand? The simple answer is that with more than 70 provinces, it would have taken a while, and there’s strong literary warrant for Bangkok now. In consultation with volunteer Winton Matthews, we identified the 3-subdivision specifically as where we’d put Bangkok anyway if we had developed for the whole country. And again, because of its importance, it would have had four-digit T2 notation directly under the main Thailand number regardless.

There’s one other country where we’ve given a single subdivision in Table 2. Can you find it?

EPC 143A exhibits available for review

In January, we'll have Electronic Meeting 143A of the Editorial Policy Committee (EPC). You can view the following revision proposals at oc.lc/deweyexhibits: 

• EPC 143A-S29.1 - 297.48 Sufi orders
• EPC 143A-S30.1 - Movement of people and 325 International migration and colonization
• EPC 143A-S73.1 - 730 Sculpture and related arts
• EPC 143A-S94.1 - Ionian Islands
• EPC 143A-T1.1 - Further updates to terminology for groups of people

EPC will be voting on these the week of January 30-February 3. Please share any feedback, positive or negative! You can do so by commenting on this post, posting to the the Dewey Contributors Google Group, or by email to [email protected] or an EPC member.

Table 2 updates: Kosovo and the Philippines

The changes approved at EPC 143 include two substantive updates to Table 2. We have provided new notation for Kosovo, and updated the previously incomplete coverage of Philippine provinces.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo. Roughly half of the world’s countries recognize Kosovo as independent. Serbia considers the area to be the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, part of Serbia.

The new notation for Kosovo, T2—49719, has both Kosovo i Metohija and Republic of Kosovo in its class-here note, indicating that the notation can be used regardless of where one falls on this divide. It follows the DDC’s principle of organizing Table 2 by geography rather than political boundaries necessarily.

Discussion at the EPC raised the interesting question of what this change meant for the neutrality or impartiality of the DDC. Does adding such notation not implicitly take a side, and say that Kosovo is independent? The change was not motivated by a desire to take a side, but we recognized that not making a change might also be seen as implicitly taking a side (i.e., that Kosovo’s declaration of independence was illegitimate).

More informed people than me have written on whether libraries are, can be, or should be “neutral”, often with very different ideas of what that means, but the case of Kosovo in the DDC certainly feels like a case where true neutrality – think not naming any country – would greatly hamper utility.

Over in the Philippines, things are much more straightforward, at least in that it was just a matter of giving fuller coverage of the country in Table 2. With the recent changes, we’ve gone from seven Table 2 numbers under T2—599 Philippines to 102!

Unlike many countries, the Philippines has a clear basis for organization in Table 2 before political boundaries: its islands. Indeed, besides T2—59916 National Capital Region (former caption: Manila), all of the notation previously only went as far as four digits, for major islands and island groupings.

The recent changes were primarily about providing for the country’s 81 provinces, though we also accounted for the 17 organizing regions. Most of the provinces were previously in including notes. T2—5991 Luzon island and adjacent islands was particularly crowded! Here’s how it looked in the print DDC 23:

My thanks to the user in the Philippines who got the ball rolling on this some time ago. What’s next for Table 2? Expect some expansions in South Asia and Central Asia, along with some updates for countries that have reorganized, like Morocco and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

 

Results of EPC 143

The Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) met virtually in June to consider the slate of exhibits finalized back in May. Most were approved, and you’ll be seeing them rolling out into WebDewey in the coming weeks. (One is already there! More on that soon.)

Two exhibits were sent back for further work:

• EPC 143-S29.1c - 297.48 Sufi orders
• EPC 143-S30.1 - 304.8 Movement of people

For EPC 143-S29.1c, there was consensus among the committee that more specific Sufi orders should be provided for, beyond those proposed in the exhibit. We welcome feedback from users around the world, or anyone with interest or expertise in the topic, even if they aren’t users, to help represent Sufi orders that are frequently the subject of published literature.

On EPC 143-S30.1, the topic is just complicated! Where do you class a work on immigration to a specific country, emigration from a country, or works that cover both? When does a work on immigration belong with community sociology or political science instead of the interdisciplinary number? We’ll revisit the issue at the next electronic EPC meeting, towards the end of this year.

Keep checking the blog for posts highlighting specific changes from EPC 143 as they’re added to WebDewey, but keep your eye on the WebDewey updates feed too, as not every exhibit will necessarily lead to a blog post.

Last but certainly not least, there are a few new (and returning!) faces joining EPC, and that will lead to a blog post!

EPC 143 exhibits ready for review

The Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) will meet virtually in early June for their Meeting 143. Dates and times will vary based on members' availability. You can view the following revision proposals at oc.lc/deweyexhibits:

• EPC 143-S29.1a - Introduction, Islam and secular disciplines
• EPC 143-S29.1b - 297.38 Rites, ceremonies, prayer, meditation
• EPC 143-S29.1c - 297.48 Sufi orders
• EPC 143-S29.1d - 297.54 Zakat
• EPC 143-S29.1e - 297.576 Individual observances
• EPC 143-S30.1 - 304.8 Movement of people
• EPC 143-S30.2 - Disasters as causes of social change
• EPC 143-S74.1 - Graphic design and communication design
• EPC 143-T1.2 - Terminology in T1--08 Groups of people
• EPC 143-T2.1 - Kosovo
• EPC 143-T2.2 - T2--599 Philippines
• EPC 143-T6.1 - T6--9549 Eastern Himalayan languages; T5--9549 Eastern Himalayan peoples

(To paraphrase guidance we give on the Summaries, Consult exhibits for complete and exact titles.)

Please share any feedback, positive or negative! You can do so by commenting on this post, posting to the the Dewey Contributors Google Group, or by email to [email protected] or an EPC member.

Collected biographies in 930-990

Recently, I wrote about individual biographies in 930-990. To quickly recap, individual biographies typically should go elsewhere unless they’re for historians, historic figures, or ordinary people used as examples of life in a certain period.

With collected biographies in this area too, be careful in applying standard subdivisions. The large add table at 930-990 plays a similar role to typical standard subdivisions here. Notably absent from this table is an equivalent notation to T1—092 Biography. That doesn’t mean you can’t use T1—092 at all in the 900s, just that you usually need to go to a specific period. Ordinary people go in the period in which they live; public figures typically go with the highest office they attained, or when they were most prominent. What about a historian who specializes in the entirety of a country’s history? Then you can use 930-990:007202 Historians and historiographers. So a biography of a historian of all of Chinese history could class at 951.007202, though one who specialized in Ming dynasty history would class at 951.026092.

Collected biographies, then, are the main reason you’d add biographical notation to the broadest number for an individual country’s history. Notation 930-990:0099 Collected biography is for “Description, critical appraisal, biography of people associated with the history of the continent, country, locality but limited to no specific period”. For example, use 954.0099 for collected biographies of people from India across time. In practice, these are often works that describe national leaders and other famous figures, but the same treatment would apply for ordinary people, whose lives illustrate the place over time.

Either way, if you’re simply adding T1—092 to the broadest number for a country’s history, that’s a mistake! If you’re tempted to do so, the right answer depends on the work you’re classifying.

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.

EPC 142D exhibits available for review

This week marks the start of Electronic Meeting 142D of the Editorial Policy Committee (EPC). You can view the following revision proposals at oc.lc/deweyexhibits: 

• EPC 142D-S39.1 - Wedding planning and other events associated with customs
  • EPC 142D-S39.1a - Wedding planning
  • EPC 142D-S39.1b - Customs and associated events
• EPC 142D-S54.1 - Geographic treatment of minerals and mineralogy
• EPC 142D-S61.1 - 615.53 General therapeutic systems
• EPC 142D-S79.1 - Geocaching
• EPC 142D-S98.1 - Presidents of Colombia
• EPC 142D-T2.1 - Provinces of Bulgaria

EPC will be voting on these the last week in April. Please share any feedback, positive or negative! You can do so by commenting on this post, posting to the the Dewey Contributors Google Group, or by email to [email protected] or an EPC member.

New T2 notation: Provinces of Nepal

Back in 2015, Nepal adopted a new constitution. Among other things, it divided the country into seven provinces. The provinces were initially unnamed, and the provincial legislatures were tasked with selecting permanent names for themselves.

A few years later, librarians from Nepal contacted the Dewey editorial team at an IFLA conference to request provision for the provinces in Table 2. At the time, there was just a single notation for the country at T2—5496.

Initially, we thought to wait until all seven provinces had names, but after further correspondence with librarians in Nepal, we drew up a development providing official names where available and numbers for the rest. Five of the seven provinces now have names. The Editorial Policy Committee approved the update, so you’ll now see the following for Nepal in WebDewey:

As you’ll see, we’ve also provided numbers for the named provinces, for consistency’s sake. Once the remaining two provinces receive names, we’ll provide them and remove the numbers from the captions, though we plan to keep index terms like “Province No. 1 (Nepal)” in the WebDewey Relative Index.

Note that while T2—5496 is still the notation for comprehensive works on the Himalayas, Mount Everest has been continued to T2—54961.

I’d like to thank the volunteers who helped with this development, including the librarians and education ministry officials from Nepal who thoroughly reviewed the proposal and suggested improvements.

Joe Biden in the DDC

Yesterday, we added a new number to the classification:

973.934 Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021-

I wrote last year about how we maintain the numbers for leaders of countries in the history schedules. Yesterday’s publication also closed out the time span in the caption of 973.933, for Biden’s predecessor. Browse in the Relative Index and you’ll see the following:

What’s the difference between these two terms? Future works about Joe Biden himself, such as biographies, belong at 973.934092 (T1—092 Biography added to the new number). Works about Biden’s whole administration just belong at 973.934. The Relative Index term reflects that this number is for Biden as a subject in American history.

Now, I said future works about Joe Biden. See the Manual note T1—092 (WebDewey link), especially the section “Public figures”. It explains that you should classify comprehensive works based on the highest office a person reaches, unless there’s a compelling reason to do otherwise. Generally, someone elected US president will have had biographies about them before. There is no need to reclassify biographies of Biden as a legislator (328.73092, such as Promises to keep) or a vice president (973.932092, such as Promise Me, Dad), but for future works that also cover his presidency, prefer 973.934092.

Finally, we can’t forget Kamala Harris, the new vice president, and the first woman, first African American, and first Asian American to hold that office. Although we don’t name vice presidents in the schedules, they class with the presidential administration in which they served. The Manual note referred to above says, “Use 930-990 for monarchs, presidents, other heads of state, prime ministers, vice presidents, and regents, using the number for the period during which they held office.” Still, I went ahead and mapped the Library of Congress name authority record for Harris to 973.934092. No need to reclassify works on her, either. For now, it’s the best place for biographies of her going forward, but as Biden himself shows, “highest office reached” often doesn’t stop there.