Presentation at Ontario Library Association SuperConference, 2010

1. Dewey update: what’s new with
the DDC?
Presentation at OLA Superconference
February 28, 2010
Alison Hitchens
Cataloguing & Metadata Librarian
University of Waterloo Library

2. Introduction
• Why this session?
▫ DDC23 coming in 2011!
• Why update the DDC?
▫ To add new topics
▫ To clarify
▫ To modernize
▫ To internationalize

3. Sources
• Dewey blog
▫ http://ddc.typepad.com/
• Dewey newsletters
• Dewey new and changed entries
▫ http://www.oclc.org/dewey/updates/new/
• Discussion papers
▫ http://www.oclc.org/dewey/discussion/
• Conference presentations
▫ http://www.oclc.org/dewey/news/conferences/default.htm

4. Agenda
• What changed 2003-2009
• Looking forward: what changes are coming
• Dewey projects
• Questions?

5. Types of changes:
Staying current
From “including” to new number
Comprehensive/Interdisciplinary works
Splitting concepts
Geographic areas

6. Updated treatment of terrorism
363.325 Terrorism
Including cyberterrorism
Class here bombing; terrorism and responses to
terrorism associated with a particular aspect of public
safety; interdisciplinary works on terrorism
363.3251 Aspects of terrorism
363.3253 *Bioterrorism and chemical terrorism
363.3255 *Nuclear terrorism
363.3259 Specific targets of terrorism
Source: New and changed entries (Nov. 2005)

7. Political updates
971 *Canada
971.07 2000-
971.071 Later portion … of Jean Chrétien, 2000-2003
971.072 Prime ministership of Paul Martin, 2003-2006
971.073 Prime ministership of Stephen Harper, 2006-
Source: WebDewey

8. In the news
• 363.3494 Social problems
and services related to
Tsunamis as disasters
Source: New and changed entries (Nov. 2005; Apr. 2008); WebDewey

9. Modern concepts & terminology
Digital microcomputers→
004 Data processing→
Personal computers
004 Computer science
Class here data processing…
1 2Source: New and changed entries (Nov. 2008)
1

10. Placement for current topics:

11. From “including” to new number
• Crohn disease (part of class here note)
• Asperger syndrome
• Low-cholesterol diet*
• Sodium-reduced diet*
*For information on diet-related changes, see the blog post “Diets for
health” http://ddc.typepad.com/025431/2009/11/diets-for-health.html
Source: New and changed entries (Sept. 2004; Oct. 2004; Oct./Nov. 2009)

12. Comprehensive/Interdisciplinary works
• 379.11 Support of public education
▫ Class here financial support; comprehensive works on financial
support of education
• 613.71 Exercise and sports activities
▫ Class here comprehensive works on care of physique and form [formerly
646.75 ]; interdisciplinary works on aerobic exercise
• 362.19888 Abortion services
▫ Class here interdisciplinary works [formerly 363.46 ]
• 663.2 Wine
▫ Class here grape wine, comprehensive works on white and red wine,
comprehensive works on specific white and red wines
Sources: New and changed entries (Feb. 2005; Sept. 2007; Feb. 2008; Mar. 2008)

13. Splitting concepts
• Religious and political aspects of Islam
• Clarified scope of pediatrics and adolescent
medicine
• Many changes to Ethnic and language groups in
Tables 5 & 6

14. Religious & political aspects of Islam
320.557 Islamic fundamentalism
297.09 Historical, geographic, persons treatment
Class here comprehensive religious works on
religious aspects of Islamic fundamentalism. Class
political aspects of Islam in 320

15. Religious & political aspects of Islam
320.557 Islamic ideologies
Class here Islamic fundamentalism, Islamism
297.09 Historical, geographic, persons treatment
Class here religious aspects of Islamic
fundamentalism. Class political aspects of
Islam, of Islamic fundamentalism in 320
Source: New and changed entries (Mar. 2004)

16. Pediatrics vs. adolescent medicine
615.5 Therapeutics
615.5083 Young people
Do not use for therapeutics for infants and children up to puberty,
comprehensive works on child and adolescent therapeutics ; class in
615.542
615.50835 Young people twelve to twenty
Do not use for therapeutics for young people twelve to twenty who
have not reached puberty ; class in 615.542
Class here therapeutics for adolescents
615.542 Pediatric therapeutics
Class here comprehensive works on child and adolescent therapeutics
Source: New and changed entries (May 2009)

17. Ethnic and language groups example
• Table 5 Ethic & National Groups
--9182 Serbs, Montenegrins, Croats, Bosnian Muslims
--9182 Serbs and Montenegrins
--9183 Croats and Bosnians
--91839 Bosnians
Class here peoples who speak, or whose ancestors spoke,
Bosnian; Bosniaks; Bosnian Muslims; people of Bosnia and
Hercegovina as a national group
For citizens of Bosnia and Hercegovina of other ethnic
groups, see the ethnic group,
e.g. Croats --9183049742
Source: New and changed entries (Dec. 2004)

18. Geographic areas
• Example revisions:
▫ Åland Islands, Finland
received class here note
▫ Portugal expanded and
revised, replacing 18 entries
▫ Reworked Indonesia
▫ Moved things around in
Sweden, Belgium
Source: New and changed entries (May 2005; July 2006; Aug.
2006; June 2008)
3

19. Proposed changes:
to education
to music
to persons
to WebDewey

20. 370 Education
• Goal: “to make the schedule a more useful
general framework for the organization of
education in a global context”
Source: Discussion paper , p. 1
( “370 Education: Primary subjects and levels of education “ Jan. 2010)

21. Interdisciplinary approach to
knowledge
372.19 Elementary
education in subject
areas
372.3 Computers,
science, technology,
health
372.3 Knowledge,
computer science,
library and
information sciences,
science, technology
Including discussion of ideas
from many fields,
interdisciplinary approach
to knowledge

22. Home and family management; Social
skills
372.8 Other studies
372.82 Home economics
372.37 Personal health and safety; social skills
Including comprehensive works on home and family
management. Class here life skills
372.374 Social skills
Class here family life, interpersonal relationships

23. Language arts (372.6)
New note:
Option: Class here language arts (communication
skills) in a language other than English; in that
case, class language arts (communication skills) in
English in 372.6521

24. Language arts
372.65 Foreign languages and bilingual
instruction
372.65 Foreign, official, second languages;
bilingual instruction
Languages other than the language given
preference in 372.6
Subdivisions are added for all topics in heading
together, for foreign languages alone, for official
languages alone, for second languages alone

25. Elementary mathematics
372.7 Mathematics
Including measurement
372.71 Algebra
372.72 Arithmetic
Class here numeracy
372.76 Geometry
372.79 Probabilities and statistical
mathematics

26. Civics and Social studies
372.83 Social studies
372.832 Civics (Citizenship)
372.83 Civics (Citizenship)
372.89 History and geography
Class here comprehensive works on social
studies; civilization

27. Levels of education
372 Primary education (Elementary education)
372.21 Pre-primary education
372.241 Lower level
Grades 1-3
372.242 Intermediate level
Grades 4-6
(372.243 Upper level)
Optional lower secondary education

28. Levels of education
373 Secondary education
373.236 Lower level
Grades above 6
372.248 Upper level
Grades 10-12
378 Higher education (Tertiary education)

29. 780 Music
Goal: address difficulties in the classification of
contemporary music
Source: Discussion paper “Contemporary styles
of music” (Mar. 2009)

30. Folk or Pop? : new criteria
781.62 Folk Music
Music originating within and associated with
an ethnic or national group
 Popular music that fits this scope note should be
classed in 781.62 unless there is already a number
established (e.g. reggae)
 Manual entry: if in doubt, prefer 781.62

31. Hybrid styles
• Use the class-with-the-last
number policy
• Addition of a new subdivision
(17) to express a second style
at 781.63-781.69
• New number 781.657 Hybrid
styles
E.g. folk-rock 781.661762
781.66 (rock)+ 17 (hybrid) +
62 (folk)
4
Jackson Browne

32. Popular styles
• Instead of providing a multitude of new
numbers or notes for styles not yet provided for,
create relative index entries to guide the
classifier:
▫ Cajun music 781.62410763
▫ Zydeco music 781.62410763
▫ Disco music 781.64
▫ Latin pop 781.6268

33. Persons
Terminology changes:
T1-08 Kinds of persons →
T1-092 Persons treatment →
305 Social groups →
Sources: Discussion paper & blog post (Aug. 2008);
presentation by Julianne Beall at ILFA 2008
Groups of people
Biography
Groups of people

34. T1—08 New developments
Current:
T1—081 Men
T1—082 Women
Proposed:
T1—081 People by gender
or sex
Class here gender
identity, gender role,
sex role
T1—0811 Men
T1—082 Women

35. T1—08 New developments
T1—08656 People in partnerships and unions
Class here people in common-law marriages, civil
unions, de facto relationships, domestic
partnerships, registered partnerships, unmarried
couples living together
T1—0867 Transgender and intersex people

36. WebDewey re-design
Goals
• Modern interface
• Personalization
• Local links
Source: presentation by Libbie Crawford at ALA Midwinter, Jan. 2010. Images used with permission.

37. New welcome screen

38. New Help Screen

39. New Results Screen

40. Classifying photos
Dewey.info
BISAC-DDC mappings
Classify

41. Classifying photographs
• Assign DDC to photographs in the World Digital
Library (WDL)
• The captions from the Dewey summaries are
shown as topics in the WDL
▫ Users can browse by topic
▫ Topics are multilingual
Source: presentation by Julianne Beall at IFLA, 2009

42. WDL (www.wdl.org)

43. Topics = DDC Summaries
Cathedral of St. Sophia (1568-70), with Belltower
(1869-70), Southeast View, Vologda, Russia
Photographer: Brumfield, William Craft (1944-)
200 Religion
280 Christian denominations
281 Early church & Eastern churches
700 Arts & recreation
720 Architecture
726 Buildings for religious purposes

44. Multilingual topics
Change language option:

45. Dewey.info
• Present DDC data in a reusable way
▫ Linked data for the semantic web
 For machines
 For humans
• Start with the DDC summaries
▫ Identify each class with a URI
• Potential applications:
▫ Tell your users what “x” number means
▫ Point to broader/narrower terms
▫ Links for multilingual translation
▫ Link to other vocabularies
▫ Link Table 2 to FAST headings/Geonames
Source: presentation by Michael Panzer at ALA Midwinter, Jan. 2010

46. Dewey.info

47. Mapping DDC numbers to BISAC subject
headings
083 04 372.7 ‡2 22 ‡5 OCoLC-D
083 04 510.712 ‡2 22 ‡5 OCoLC-D
150 EDUCATION ‡x Teaching Methods &
Materials ‡x Mathematics
Source: presentation by Joan S. Mitchell at ALA Midwinter, Jan. 2010

48. Classify (http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/)
• Recommends classification based on FRBRization of WorldCat records

49. Classify

50. Questions?
Contact
ahitchen@uwaterloo.ca
A good place for Dewey news, tips & tricks is the
Dewey blog (edited by Jonathan Furner, assistant editor of the DDC,
with contributions from other members of the Dewey editorial team):
http://ddc.typepad.com/

51. Photo Credits
1. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwward0/285868678
6/
Photographer: William Ward
2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pommesonkel/425543
6386/
Photographer: Kartoffelmeister
3. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pntphoto/256961719/
Photographer: Pavel Trebukov
4. http://www.flickr.com/photo/bigcif/3512572314
Photographer: Renato Cifarelli
Book covers from Library Thing and ABE Books
School clip art by Philip Martin

52. Sources
Beall, Julianne, "Classifying photographs for the World Digital Library: draft guidelines." (PowerPoint presentation
presented at Dewey Translators Meeting, IFLA, Milan, Italy, August 25, 2009)
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/news/conferences/BeallWDL.ppt (accessed February 14, 2010)
Beall, Julianne, "Updates to groups of people and literary periods." (PowerPoint presentation presented at Dewey
Translators Meeting, IFLA, Quebec, Quebec, August 12, 2008)
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/news/conferences/updates_3.ppt (accessed February 14, 2010)
"Contemporary styles of music," 025.431: The Dewey Blog.
http://ddc.typepad.com/025431/2009/03/contemporary-styles-of-music.html (accessed February 14, 2010)
"Contemporary styles of music." Discussion paper, Mar. 2009.
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/discussion/papers/contemporary_styles_of_music.pdf (accessed February 14, 2010)
Crawford, Libbie, "WebDewey 2.0: design of the new web version of the DDC." (PowerPoint presentation presented at
ALA Annual, Chicago, Ill., July 11, 2009)
http://www.oclc.org/DEWEY/news/conferences/WebDewey_relaunch.ppt (accessed February 14, 2010)

53. Sources
"Dewey summaries as linked data," Dewey Web Services.
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/webservices/default.html (accessed February 14, 2010)
"Dewey summaries published as linked data," 025.431: The Dewey Blog.
http://ddc.typepad.com/025431/2009/08/dewey-summaries-published-as-linked-
data.html (accessed February 14, 2010)
"Groups of people in Table 1 and 305-306," 024.431: The Dewey Blog.
http://ddc.typepad.com/025431/2008/08/since-late-2005.html (accessed February 14,
2010)
"Groups of People in Table 1 and 305–306: Draft Schedules and Proposed Implementation
Plan." Discussion paper, August 1, 2008.
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/discussion/papers/groupsofpeople.doc (accessed February 14,
2010)
Library Services Centre, "Special issue on DDC22," LSC Cataloguing Newsletter (July 2003).
http://www.lsc.on.ca/content%5Cnlet0307.htm (accessed October 2008)

54. Sources
Mitchell, Joan S. "370 education." (PowerPoint presentation presented at ALA Midwinter,
Boston, Mass., January 16, 2010)
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/news/conferences/370_education.ppt (accessed February 14,
2010)
Mitchell, Joan S. "370 education: primary subjects and levels of education". Discussion paper,
Jan. 14, 2010.
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/discussion/papers/education_discussion_paper.pdf (accessed
February 14, 2010)
Mitchell, Joan S. "BISAC-DDC mappings." (PowerPoint presentation presented at ALA
Midwinter, Boston, Mass., January 16, 2010)
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/news/conferences/bisac.ppt (accessed February 14, 2010)
Panzer, Michael, "Dewey.info update." (PowerPoint presentation presented at ALA Midwinter,
Boston, Mass., January 16, 2010)
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/news/conferences/dewey_info.ppt (accessed February 14,
2010)