Page 74 - DLIS002_KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGUING THEORY

Unit 4: Colon Classification and Dewey Decimal Classification

detect trends in the literature that must be incorporated into the Classification. The editors Notes
prepare proposed schedule revisions and expansions, and forward the proposals to the Decimal
Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) for review and recommended action.
EPC is a ten-member international board whose main function is to advise the editors and
OCLC on matters relating to changes, innovations, and the general development of the
Classification. EPC represents the interests of DDC users; its members come from national,
public, special, and academic libraries, and from library schools.

The DDC is published in full and abridged editions in print and electronic versions. The abridged
edition is a logical truncation of the notational and structural hierarchy of the corresponding
full edition on which it is based, and is intended for general collections of 20,000 titles or less.
WebDewey and Abridged WebDewey, the electronic versions of the full and abridged editions,
respectively, are updated frequently and contain additional index entries and mapped vocabulary.
The electronic versions and supplemental web postings are the chief sources of on-going updates
to the DDC. On the Dewey web site (www.oclc.org/dewey), selected new numbers and changes
to the DDC are posted monthly, and mappings between selected new Library of Congress
Subject Headings (LCSH) and Dewey numbers are posted biweekly.

Different libraries throughout the world are using different editions of DDC depending on the
year of their establishment or the time they started classifying their books. The three volumes
of the 19th edition (1979) consist of 3361 pages in all, bound in light grey colour. Its bibliographic
details are as follows:
Dewey, Melvil: Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index/Devised by Melvil Dewey,
Edition 19, edited under the direction of Benjamin A. Custer. Albany, N.Y: Forest Press, 1979.3
Volumes.
This complete set should be on your table or can be had for reference within the premises of the
study centre nearest to you. There is nothing to be afraid of its size, as it is a reference book to be
referred and consulted rather than read from cover to cover or memorised. DDC in three volumes
is a number building machine, and you have to learn how to use it.

Task 1. Visit a few libraries in your town/city and note the classification schemes
used by them.
2. Find out which editions of DDC are being used by the libraries in your
town/city.

4.6.1 Structure and Notation

The DDC is built on sound principles that make it ideal as a general knowledge organization
tool: meaningful notation in universally recognized Arabic numerals, well-defined categories,
well-developed hierarchies, and a rich network of relationships among topics. In the DDC, basic
classes are organized by disciplines or fields of study. At the broadest level, the DDC is divided
into ten main classes, which together cover the entire world of knowledge. Each main class is
further divided into ten divisions, and each division into ten sections (not all the numbers for
the divisions and sections have been used). The main structure of the DDC is presented in the
DDC Summaries following this introduction. The headings associated with the numbers in the
summaries have been edited for browsing purposes, and do not necessarily match the complete
headings found in the schedules.

The first summary contains the ten main classes. The first digit in each three-digit number
represents the main class. For example, 600 represent technology.

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