This presentation was presented to a group of students who are training to become Library Assistants at OLMC. It's a basic introduction to Dewey Decimal Classification.

1. OLMC Library
Assistant training
Introduction to Dewey Decimal
System
23rd April 2012

2.  Do you know which
numbers are given to
different topics?
 Do you know who
invented the system?

3. What is Dewey decimal
system?
 organises non-fiction &
reference resources
 each subject is given a number
and the books and other items
are arranged on the shelves in
number order, according to their
topic.

4. Melville Dewey 1851-1931
 Worked as a library assistant in a
college library to help pay for his
education.
 At 21 (1873) he invented the system
that is now used to classify books and
other items including internet resources,
in libraries around the world.
 Known as the Dewey Decimal
Classification system it organises
information into 10 main subject areas.

5. How Dewey organised
information
 000 General Knowledge
Almanacs, encyclopedias, new media, computers
 100 Psychology & Philosophy
Information about death & dying, ethics (ways of behaving),
feelings, logic (about thinking)
 200 Religions & Mythology
Religions of the world – Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Bibles.
 300 Social Sciences & Folklore
Careers (occupations or jobs) , transport, environment and
recycling, about families, how governments work, community,
money.
 400 Languages & Grammar
Languages spoken including Chinese, English, French, German,
Italian, Japanese, Spanish, sign languages & dictionaries.

6. 500 Maths & Natural Science
Maths, Animals, Chemistry, Dinosaurs, Fish, Geology,
Insects, Physics, Planets and Plants
600 Medicine & Technology
Computers, inventions, Engineering, Farming, Health,
Human Body, Manufacturing, Nutrition
700 Arts & Recreation
Architecture, Crafts, Drawing, Games, Dance, Music,
Puppets and kites, Sports
800 Literature
Stories, Plays, Poetry, and all about the authors who wrote
them.
900 Geography & History
Biographies, Countries of the world and travel, Australia,
information about wars, Atlases.

7.  Dewey divided the 10 subject areas
into smaller topics. Each topic has its
own special number
 500s are divided into 520, 520, 530
…
 Each of the 10s is divided into 510,
511, 512 …
 A decimal point is an even more
specific sign of what the book is
about

8. Here’s how Dewey divided
590s
Suppose you are looking for a book on
butterflies
500 Natural sciences
590 Zoology (animals)
595 Other invertebrates (animals w/o backbones)
595.7 Insects
595.78 Lepidoptera (moths & butterflies)
595.789 Butterflies

9. CALL NUMBERS
 The Dewey numbers form part of the
call number of a book
 1st three letters of the author’s
surname follows
 Call number – ‘address’ of the book
on the shelves
 The call number for a book on
mammals by J.S. Brown would be
599 BRO

10. Fiction & faction collection
Separate collections exist for:
 Junior fiction (blue/white labels)
 Senior fiction (pink labels)
 Graphic novels
 Biographies/autobiographies
 Picture fiction
 Class sets (yellow labels)

11. Cataloguing Fiction
 Organised by collection location
(junior, senior, picture)
 Then first three letters of
author’s surname. EG:
Stephenie Meyer = MEY
 Books by the same author
appear in alphabetical order on
the shelf

12. Now it’s your turn …
In pairs organise a set of fiction and
non-fiction books as they would
appear in shelf order on the
tables.
Ask Ms Roache or myself for
assistance
We will check when you are
completed