Dewey decimal classification
The Dewey Decimal Classification (Engl. Dewey Decimal Classification , in short DDC ) is the internationally most widely used classification for the indexing of library collections . It is named after the American librarian Melvil Dewey , who published the first edition in 1876, and is mainly used in the English-speaking world . The DDC has also been translated into more than 30 languages and is used in more than 135 countries in over 200,000 libraries worldwide. In over 60 countries, the national bibliography is structured according to the DDC. It is therefore of great importance for the international exchange of data between libraries, which is likely to increase. The German National Library has been using the DDC since 2004 to subdivide the subject groups , since 2006 gradually also for the classification of contents, since 2007 for the publications of the publishing house trade (series A of the German National Bibliography ). The classification has been licensed by the OCLC organization since 1998 ; the German translation has been available since 2010 under the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0.
history
The DDC is based on a decimal classification originally devised by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) and which the American librarian Melvil Dewey (1851–1931) developed as a student at Amherst College .
In October 2005, the German translation of the DDC, supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft , was published and has been used by the German National Library since January 2006 . The DNB developed this project together with the Cologne University of Applied Sciences from 2002 to 2005 . The part of the Dewey decimal classification shown in MelvilSearch has been freely available since February 2010 under the Creative Commons license "CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0".
Differentiation of the DDC from the universal decimal classification
Outside the Anglo-American language area there is also the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), which was created by the Belgian librarians Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine in 1895 as a European variant (distributed in Germany as DK by the German Standards Committee / DIN) because the DDC for the international use was sometimes too specifically American. So there are two systems, the DDC and the UDC. For the Internet, the American David the system developed A. Mundie CyberDewey . In Japan it is used as the basis of the Nippon Decimal Classification (NDC), the 9th edition of which has been current since August 1995.
The DDC differs from the UDC in the following points, among others:
- The DDC uses trailing zeros in order to obtain three-digit notations on the top two structure levels
- The top level differs in the treatment of literature and linguistics:
- DDC: 4 [00] = language / linguistics; 8 [00] = literature
- UDC: 4 = unoccupied ; 8 = linguistics and literature (UDC regards the separation of literature and linguistics as impermissible)
- In the course of the decades, considerable differences have developed at the lower levels
- Both DDC and UDC have a number of help panels for subdividing them according to space, time, language, form, etc. The DDC also only uses the digits 0 to 9 on the help panels, while the UDC uses a large number of symbols and is thus visually different the DDC clearly differs.
Structure of the classification
The classification consists of approx. 36,000 classes (so-called main and auxiliary tables). Using notation synthesis, these enable the formation of around one billion synthetic notations. Individual notations are numerical and consist of at least 3 and in special cases up to more than 20 digits. The DDC can be extended indefinitely to lower hierarchical levels ( "hospitality in chain" ), but only to a limited extent on the same level ( "hospitality in array" ).
| class | content |
|---|---|
| 000 | Computer science, information science, general works |
| 100 | Philosophy and psychology |
| 200 | religion |
| 300 | Social sciences |
| 400 | language |
| 500 | Science and math |
| 600 | Technology, medicine, applied sciences |
| 700 | Arts and entertainment |
| 800 | literature |
| 900 | History and geography |
| class | content |
|---|---|
| 000 | Computer science, information science, general works |
| 010 | Bibliographies |
| 020 | Library and Information Sciences |
| 030 | Encyclopedias & non-fiction books |
| 040 | Unassigned |
| 050 | Magazines, journals |
| 060 | News Media, Journalism & Publishing |
| 070 | News |
| 080 | deals |
| 090 | Manuscripts & Rare Books |
| class | content |
|---|---|
| 100 | philosophy |
| 110 | metaphysics |
| 120 | Epistemology |
| 130 | Parapsychology & Occultism |
| 140 | Philosophical schools of thought |
| 150 | psychology |
| 160 | Philosophical logic |
| 170 | ethics |
| 180 | Ancient, Medieval & Eastern Philosophy |
| 190 | Modern western philosophy |
| class | content |
|---|---|
| 200 | religion |
| 210 | Philosophy and Theory of Religion |
| 220 | The Bible |
| 230 | Christianity |
| 240 | Christian Practice & Respect |
| 250 | Christian pastoral practice & religious orders |
| 260 | Christian organization, social work & worship |
| 270 | History of Christianity |
| 280 | Christian denomination |
| 290 | Other religions |
Examples
A search at the German National Library for the keyword blog provides the Sachbegriff weblog and the DDC number 006752 . The term breaks down as follows:
| class | content |
|---|---|
| 0 ––.––– | Computer science, information science, general works |
| 00 –.––– | Computer science, knowledge, systems |
| 006 .––– | Special computer procedures |
| 006.7–– | Multimedia systems |
| 006.75- | Individual types of multimedia systems |
| 006.752 | Blogs |
Further examples:
Squirrels = 599.362: Natural sciences → Animals (zoology) → Individual taxonomic groups of animals → Different orders of Eutheria (placenta animals) → Sciuridae (squirrels) → Sciurus (squirrels)
Gummy bears are classified under 641.853 and 664.153. 641.853: Technology → Housekeeping & Family → Eating and Drinking → Cooking individual types of dishes and preparing drinks → Jams and confectionery → Confectionery. 664.153: Technology → Chemical process engineering → Food technology → Sugar, syrup, products made from them → Sugar products → Confectionery.
literature
- Heidrun Alex: DDC subject groups of the German National Bibliography: Guidelines for their allocation; Leipzig 2004, ISBN 3-933641-57-8
- Heidrun Alex: The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) . In: Heidrun Alex, Guido Bee, Ulrike Junger (eds.): Classifications in libraries . De Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-029925-0 , pp. 65–110 , doi : 10.1515 / 9783110299250-003 ( degruyter.com [accessed January 26, 2020]).
- Karl W. Bührer, Adolph Saager: The world registry. The Melvil-Dewey decimal system . Seybold, Ansbach 1912 ( digitized version )
- Lois Mai Chan, Joan S. Mitchell: Dewey Decimal Classification: Theory and Practice. Saur, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-598-11747-3 (textbook for DDC 22)
- Melvil Dewey : A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloging and Arranging the Books and Pamphlets of a Library. (Dewey Decimal Classification) . 1876, E-Text ( Project Gutenberg ; English)
- Dewey Decimal Classification and Register: DDC 22; , founded by Melvil Dewey, ed. by JS Mitchell with the assistance of J. Beall, G. Martin, WE Matthews, Jr., GR New (German edition), 4 volumes, Saur, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-598-11651-9 .
- Britta Haßelmeier: The Dewey Decimal Classification: An introduction in connection with the “DDC German” project; PDF - informative term paper 2003/2004
- Konrad Umlauf: Introduction to library classification theory and practice; Web document (Status: July 20, 2003, accessed: March 1, 2004, nl)
- Walther Umstätter: DDC in Europe. Did the work in the German National Library ... help you? … In: Bibliotheksdienst 42, pp. 1194–1221. 2008.
Web links
- Official German DDC website
- License and maintenance of the DDC
- UDC consortium
- DDC search: German National Library
- List of the first three levels of the DDC
- DeweyDigger
- https://deweysearchde.pansoft.de/webdeweysearch/ (search engine for DDC classes)
- Project website of the DFG project DDC German
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Heidrun Alex: The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) . In: Heidrun Alex, Guido Bee, Ulrike Junger (eds.): Classifications in libraries . De Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-029925-0 , pp. 65-110 , 77f., 89f. , doi : 10.1515 / 9783110299250-003 ( degruyter.com [accessed January 26, 2020]).
- ↑ Guido Bee: Theory - Application - Use . In: Heidrun Alex, Guido Bee, Ulrike Junger (eds.): Classifications in libraries . tape 53 . De Gruyter Saur, Berlin, Boston 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-029925-0 , Universal Classifications in Libraries in the German-Speaking Area, p. 23-64 , 56 , doi : 10.1515 / 9783110299250-002 .
- ^ Project DDC German at Cologne University of Applied Sciences. Retrieved March 17, 2020 .
- ^ DDC 23 Summaries. OCLC, accessed March 3, 2019 .
- ↑ publisher: Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) - DDC overviews - Overviews for DDC 22 - First overview. Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
- ^ Catalog of the German National Library. Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
- ^ Catalog of the German National Library. Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
- ^ Catalog of the German National Library. Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
- ↑ https://deweysearchde.pansoft.de/webdeweysearch/executeSearch.html?lastScheduleRecord=599.362&lastTableRecord=&query=641.853&catalogs=DNB&_catalogs=on&catalogs=GBV&_catalogs=on&catalogs=HeBIS&_catalogs=on&catalogs=SUB&_catalogs=on&catalogs=SWB&_catalogs=on&catalogs=FUB&_catalogs=on . Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
- ^ J. Macrae: 'Meningitis by the score' . In: The Practitioner . tape 215 , no. 1289 , November 1975, ISSN 0032-6518 , p. 641-643 , PMID 664 .