Classification
Arranging Library Resources
Libraries are organized to help users find the resources they need. Without classification and labeling of resources, users would have a hard time finding anything.
Imagine this: one night a mysterious alien force invades the library, removing all materials from the shelves, and replacing them so that all books, DVDs, videos, and CDs are shelved together by size and color. The patron who always wants that small, red book will be happy, but everyone else will be wandering aimlessly through the shelves, seriously interfering with the SETI investigation of the alien force...
Libraries separate fiction (stories or novels) from non-fiction (true or factual information). The fiction may be separated into several genres (categories) such as mystery, science fiction, westerns, and others.
Non-fiction is usually classified - organized by a specific classification scheme. In public libraries this is most often the Dewey Decimal Classification system. Classification places an item with other items on the same topic.
A place for everything
The DDC has 10 Main Classes. Each of those classes has 10 Divisions, and each Division has 10 Sections. The first digit in the Dewey Decimal Number is the main class, the second number is the division, and the third number is the section.
Get familiar with the Main Classes, at least. For example, history is in the 900s and science is the 600s. Then look at the Expanded Dewey table (the Hundred Divisions) from OLC's ORE on the Web reference training.
Dewey on the Web
OCLC WebDewey "offers easy-to-use, World Wide Web-based access to the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and related information, with searching and browsing capabilities," plus Library of Congress Subject Headings. A tutorial is available from OCLC. You can also take an animated tour of the DDC.
Library resources are classified so that they will be organized on shelves. Some libraries also organize online resources for users with the DDC. For example, the Webrary®, a service of the Morton Grove Public Library, "consists of links to the most useful reference and informational Web sites, organized by subject according to Dewey Decimal System call numbers." How does your library help users find Web sites on the same subject as materials in the library?
DDC Main Classes
000 Generalities
100 Philosophy & psychology
200 Religion
300 Social sciences
400 Language
500 Natural sciences & mathematics
600 Technology (Applied sciences)
700 The arts (Fine and decorative arts)
800 Literature & rhetoric
900 Geography & history
Experts tell us that classifying stuff is a basic human instinct. Test this theory. Look around your home tonight. Would you say that (except for that one drawer full of junk) your kitchen is classified? How about your desk drawers? Closets? Your bookshelves? Would a map help? Would anything help!
What Now?
Complete the Activity, try the Explore section, and then go on to the next page: Call Numbers.
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