Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- About the authors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 A Brief History of the Dewey Decimal Classification
- 2 Governance and Revision of the DDC
- 3 Introduction to the Text
- 4 Basic Plan and Structure
- 5 Subject Analysis and Locating Class Numbers
- 6 Tables and Rules for Precedence and Citation Order
- 7 Number Building
- 8 Use of Table 1 Standard Subdivisions
- 9 Use of Table 2 Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Biography
- 10 Use of Table 4 Subdivisions of Individual Languages and Table 6 Languages
- 11 Use of Table 3 Subdivisions for the Arts, for Individual Literatures, for Specific Literary Forms
- 12 Use of Table 5 Ethnic and National Groups
- 13 Multiple Synthesis: Deeper Subject Analysis
- 14 Classification of General Statistics, Law, Geology, Geography and History
- 15 Using the Relative Index
- 16 WebDewey
- 17 Options and Local Adaptations
- 18 Current Developments in the DDC and Future Trends
- Appendix 1 A Broad Chronology of the DDC, 1851–2022
- Appendix 2 History of Other Versions of the DDC
- Appendix 3 Table of DDC Editors
- Appendix 4 Editors of the DDC
- Appendix 5 Takeaways
- Further resources
- Glossary
- Index
7 - Number Building
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- About the authors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 A Brief History of the Dewey Decimal Classification
- 2 Governance and Revision of the DDC
- 3 Introduction to the Text
- 4 Basic Plan and Structure
- 5 Subject Analysis and Locating Class Numbers
- 6 Tables and Rules for Precedence and Citation Order
- 7 Number Building
- 8 Use of Table 1 Standard Subdivisions
- 9 Use of Table 2 Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Biography
- 10 Use of Table 4 Subdivisions of Individual Languages and Table 6 Languages
- 11 Use of Table 3 Subdivisions for the Arts, for Individual Literatures, for Specific Literary Forms
- 12 Use of Table 5 Ethnic and National Groups
- 13 Multiple Synthesis: Deeper Subject Analysis
- 14 Classification of General Statistics, Law, Geology, Geography and History
- 15 Using the Relative Index
- 16 WebDewey
- 17 Options and Local Adaptations
- 18 Current Developments in the DDC and Future Trends
- Appendix 1 A Broad Chronology of the DDC, 1851–2022
- Appendix 2 History of Other Versions of the DDC
- Appendix 3 Table of DDC Editors
- Appendix 4 Editors of the DDC
- Appendix 5 Takeaways
- Further resources
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
‘Melvil Dewey did number building even in the first edition without knowing it!’ (Satija and Oh, 2018)
Introduction
The DDC is a born enumerative knowledge organization system. That is, class numbers for most known subjects are given ready-made. Sometimes known as a ‘mark and park’ system, it allows a classifier to pick the right number from the schedules and mark it on the document, typically for shelf placement. Over the years the DDC has made many provisions for number synthesis1 for in-depth subject analysis, to cope with the complexity and quantitative growth of knowledge. Now, number-building provisions are so extensive that the system can accommodate many more numbers than are explicitly listed in the schedules.
Identifying the best number for a resource often requires building onto a base number. This means extending a number in the schedules, using all or part of another number taken, from the schedules or tables, to make a more specific number, i.e. to represent the subject more closely. Though class numbers for many topics are still found ready-made in the DDC, over the years the frequency of and facilities for number building have steadily increased. Specific number-building instructions are found in notes beginning with ‘Add to’. Number building should only follow such explicit instructions, with the major exception of addition from Table 1 Standard subdivisions, which can be added anywhere unless instructed otherwise. The number to be added to a given base can come from as wide a range as 001–999 to as narrow as say, 381.41–381.45.
The process of synthesis can be broadly categorized as follows:
• adding to a given base any full number from the schedules
• adding a part of a number to a given base taken from a whole main class
• adding a part of a number taken from the same division or section
• adding from an internal table
• adding through a facet indicator
• adding from any of the six tables.
These categories are, however, superficial, as the building process in all cases is the same. The technique of synthesis poses no problem provided one selects the right base number and follows the add instructions therein.
Note that adding numbers in the context of the DDC never means arithmetic addition. Rather, it means suffixing the full or specified slice of a number to the right of the specified base number.
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- Publisher: FacetPrint publication year: 2023