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Unit 2: Classification Schemes

300 - Social sciences Notes
400 - Language
500 - Science (including mathematics)
600 - Technology and applied Science
700 - Arts and recreation
800 - Literature
900 - History, geography, and biography.

Administration and publication

While he lived, Melvil Dewey edited each edition himself: he was followed by other editors who
had been very much influenced by him. The earlier editions were printed in the peculiar spelling
that Dewey had devised: the number of volumes in each edition increased to two, then three and
now four.
The Online Computer Library Center of Dublin, Ohio, United States, acquired the trademark and
copyrights associated with the DDC when it bought Forest Press in 1988. OCLC maintains the
classification system and publishes new editions of the system. The editorial staff responsible for
updates is based partly at the Library of Congress and partly at OCLC. Their work is reviewed by
the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC), which is a ten-member international
board that meets twice each year. The four-volume unabridged edition is published approximately
every six years, the most recent edition (DDC 23) in mid 2011. The web edition is updated on an
ongoing basis, with changes announced each month.
The work of assigning a DDC number to each newly published book is performed by a division of
the Library of Congress, whose recommended assignments are either accepted or rejected by the
OCLC after review by an advisory board; to date all have been accepted.
In September 2003, the OCLC sued the Library Hotel for trademark infringement. The settlement
was that the OCLC would allow the Library Hotel to use the system in its hotel and marketing. In
exchange, the Hotel would acknowledge the Center's ownership of the trademark and make a
donation to a nonprofit organization promoting reading and literacy among children.

Influence

DDC's numbers formed the basis of the more expressive but complex Universal Decimal
Classification (UDC), which combines the basic Dewey numbers with selected punctuation marks
(comma, colon, parentheses, etc.). Adaptations of DDC for specific regions outside the English-
speaking world include the Korean Decimal Classification, the New Classification Scheme for
Chinese Libraries and the Nippon Decimal Classification (Japanese).

Comparison with Library of Congress Classification

Besides its frequent revision, DDC's main advantage over its chief American rival, the Library of
Congress Classification system developed shortly afterward, is its simplicity. Thanks to the use of
pure notation, a mnemonics system and a hierarchical decimal place system, it is generally easier
to use.
DDC and UDC are more flexible than Library of Congress Classification because of greater use of
facets (via auxiliary tables) while Library of Congress Classification is almost totally enumerative.
DDC's decimal system means that it is less hospitable to the addition of new subjects, as opposed
to Library of Congress Classification, which has 21 classes at the top level. DDC notations can be
much longer compared to other classification systems.
Another disadvantage of DDC is that it was developed in the 19th century essentially by one man
and was built on a top-down approach to classify all human knowledge, which makes it difficult

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