The Dewey Decimal System
Organizing Books At home, you always know where to find a fork or spoon when you need to. At the library we organize books so you can find them. Our non-fiction books are organized in the Dewey Decimal system.
Dewey Decimal System Over 100 years ago a man named Melvil Dewey created a way of organizing books. Every non-fiction book has a number and is on the shelf near books with the same number. For example, a book about whales can be found at 599.5
Ten General Categories The ten basic ways Dewey divided up books are: 1.General Works 2.Philosophy 3.Religion 4.Social Science and Folklore 5.Language 6.Math and Natural Science 7.Applied Science and Technology 8.Art and Recreation 9.Literature 10.History and Geography
What are those words? Dewey’s categories have some grown-up words in them, so let me put them another way. 1.Leftover Stuff ( ) 2. Strange Things ( ) 3. Religion, Church Stuff and Mythology ( ) 4. Government, Money and Fairy Tales ( ) 5.Languages from Around the World ( ) 6.Science, Outer Space, Weather, Animals and Plants ( ) 7.How things Work, Cars and Trucks, Cookbooks ( ) 8.Art, Games, Origami, Magic Tricks and Sports ( ) 9. Jokes and Riddles, Poetry ( ) 10. History and Travel ( )
Leftover Stuff In the numbers 000 to 099 you can find “leftover stuff”. This includes encyclopedias (031) and Newspapers (070).
Strange Things The next bunch of books are strange things, ideas and feelings people have ( ). This includes books about manners and friends.
Religion, Church Stuff and Mythology In the numbers 200 to 299 you can find books about different religions like Judaism, Buddhism and Islam. There are also books about mythology.
Washington DC, Money, Folk Tales, Scary Stories Some of the books with numbers 300 to 399 are about Washington DC, money, folk tales and scary stories.
Languages from Around the World In the numbers 400 to 499 you can find books about different languages like Russian, Italian and Japanese.
Science, Weather, Outer Space, Plants and Animals You can find books about science, outer space, plants, animals and the weather in the area with numbers 500 to 599.
How Thing Work, Cars and Trucks, Cookbooks for Kids In the numbers 600 to 699 you can find books about how things work, cars, trucks, pets and cookbooks.
Art, Games, Magic Tricks, Origami and Sports In the numbers 700 to 799 you can find book about sports, origami, music, art, magic tricks and games like chess.
Jokes, Riddles and Poetry If you look in the part of the library that says numbers 800 to 899, you will see jokes, riddles and poetry.
Famous People- Dead and Alive, History and Travel Finally, in the numbers 900 to 999, you can find books about history, travel and famous people- dead and alive.
If you are still not sure where a book is, ask a librarian.