Dewey Decimal Classification

(The guy who invented the Dewey Decimal Classification System)

SO Why not come up with a way to organize non-fiction books in libraries so that people can easily find them?

Eureka! (Shouted librarians)

Dewey’s ingenious solution was to arrange all knowledge into ten very general categories which he then continued to divide into smaller and smaller topics. His plan was to find a way to put all books on the same subject together on the library shelves.

The Dewey Decimal System divides all non-fiction subjects into ten categories using a different set of call numbers for each category.

Religion Language People Poetry Thinking and feeling Everything in the world made by people Everything in the world NOT made by people What you do for fun Poetry Past events and places

But what about fiction? Fiction books DO have Dewey Call numbers—for example, books by American authors all have the Dewey number 810—but there are so many, we leave that off and shelve fiction by the first three letters of the author’s last name.

Think of them now as Dewey Numbers! 567.912 001.94 970.1 636.7 Remember that stuff about Call Numbers? Think of them now as Dewey Numbers! 031 330.51 970.1 863 636.7 567.912 796.35476 551.52 001.94 398.2 943.5302

And what subjects belong in this Dewey category? General 600 Domestic animals They’re Dewey Numbers because they now mean something. Domestic Animals that are dogs 636 636.7 Working dogs Working dogs that are German Shepherds 636.73 Specific

636.737 636.7375 636.73756 Specific German Shepherds born in the U.S. German Shepherds born in Minnesota 636.7375 German Shepherds born in Minnesota that were born in Anoka County 636.73756 Even more Specific

Practice Makes Perfect Builder Ted Library Skills Game "Do We" Really Know Dewey? Adventure 1 and 2 Eugene School District Information Literacy Skills