Unshelved: How Do You Dewey?

The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system was developed by Melvil Dewey in 1873 and published in 1876. Libraries either use the DDC or the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) system to organize materials. The DDC is a system that organizes assigned numbers to subjects. This makes it so that materials can be shelved with other items of similar topics, and found easily in a library.

The DDC is the most widely used system in the world, for public and small academic libraries, to organize and classify books by fields. There are 10 main fields based on the division of all knowledge, with each field assigned 100 numbers. Here are the 10 main fields: 000–099, computer science, information & general works; 100–199, philosophy and psychology; 200–299, religion; 300–399, social sciences; 400–499, language; 500–599, science and mathematics; 600–699, technology; 700–799, the arts and recreation; 800–899, literature and rhetoric; and 900–999, history, biography, and geography. These 10 main fields are further subdivided to provide specific subject groups.

The LCC system, mainly used in research and academic libraries, was developed by the Library of Congress in the 1800’s. Consisting of 21 fields with each indicated by a letter of the alphabet.

Here at the Glasgow City-County Library, we use the DDC system to arrange our nonfiction materials. The nonfiction and fiction sections are both found in the adult, young adult and juvenile locations at our library. We also offer other additional nonfiction locations for ease of browsing our materials. These include a Montana section, a Reference section in the basement (sorry no check outs on reference materials) and an Oversized books section. Our books are arranged numerically, shorter numbers coming first. Books with the same numerical call number are shelved alphabetically by author then title. Because books are grouped by subject, other similar books can be found within the same locations. This technique is called “shelf browsing,” and one of my favorite things to do at the library. I find shelf browsing to be helpful in locating other books that are similar to a specific search.

If you are interested, any one of the friendly library staff at the Glasgow City-County Library would be happy to explain more about how the system works and/or show you around the library.