1. Let’s Learn About the Dewey Decimal System! Stacie Johnson for TE 872

2. Which “Dew” is the genius responsible for the Dewey Decimal System?

3. Which “Dew” is the genius? No, not morning dew. No, not Mountain Dew. No, not Dewey or even Huey or Louie. YES! Melvil Dewey!!

4. Melvil Dewey If it weren’t for Melvil Dewey, finding the books you want in the library might be as frustrating as looking for a needle in a haystack.

5. Melvil Dewey Melvil Dewey was born on December 10, 1851, in a small town in northern New York. As a child, he loved to organize and sort things and also had a talent for mathematics.

6. Dewey attended Amherst College, working in the library to help pay for his education. He was irked at the way books were arranged. At that time, some libraries, books were arranged alphabetically; in others, books were arranged by the date they were purchased. There was no consistency.

7. Think of it this way: What if HyVee put all its groceries alphabetically on the shelves? You might find the Peanut butter next to the Plums, and the Jelly, which is usually next to Peanut butter, might be two aisles over next to the Juice. But if it’s Jif, is it next to Jelly? And Bread? Is that next to Bacon? What if it’s Sara Lee Whole Grain Bread? Would that be filed under the S’s, the W’s, or the B’s? Doesn’t make much sense, does it?

8. It didn’t make sense to Dewey either. That’s why he worked to improve library classification systems. He invented the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) System when he was twenty-one. The DDC was a way to classify books that would work for all libraries.

9. Before we get started with the Dewey Decimal Classification System, let’s to do a quick review. Let’s review the difference between fiction and non-fiction and how to organize them.

10. Some definitions that might help: Fiction are books that are made up by the author. They are not true. nonFiction are books about real people, real places, real events, real things. They are true. Here’s another way to remember it: You can only say “No” once. Fiction = not true Nonfiction = true

11. Test your knowledge: Fiction or Nonfiction ? ??

12. Fiction Gary Paulsen made up the story of a boy named Brian. NonFiction This book is a how-to about the construction of boats and ships.

13. F Pau F Joh F Dew F And Fiction books have call numbers that use the author's last name. They are put on the shelf in alphabetical order by the author's last name. The call number for Brian’s Return by Gary Paulsen looks like this: F Pau

14. NONFiction books are also sorted by the first letters of the author's last name. But, they are also organized by their subject or what the book is about. Each subject has its own number. This number is based on the Dewey Decimal System. The call number for The How and Why Wonder Book of Boats and Ships by Robert Scharff looks like this: 623.82 Sch Let’s it out!

15. Mr. Dewey sorted nonfiction books into 10 main groups: O00-099 COMPUTERS & GENERAL WORKS 100-199 PHILOSOPHY & PSYCHOLOGY 200-299 RELIGION 300-399 SOCIAL SCIENCES 400-499 LANGUAGES 500-599 NATURAL SCIENCE & MATHEMATICS 600-699 TECHNOLOGY 700-799 ARTS & RECREATION 800-899 LITERATURE 900-999 HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY

16. Let’s take a closer look at O00-099 GENERAL WORKS GENERAL STUFF We could call this GENERAL STUFF, things like Encyclopedias General Reference Books Computers Codes Oddities

17. Let’s take a closer look at 100-199 philosphy & psychology Strange Things, Ideas & Feelings, We could call this Strange Things, Ideas & Feelings, with books about things like Optical Illusions UFO’s & Big Foot ESP & the Supernatural Brain Research Question & Answer Books

18. Let’s take a closer look at 200-299 religion 200-299 religion Church Stuff & Mythology, We could call this Church Stuff & Mythology, with books about things like Religions of the World Bible Stories Places of Worship Greek Mythology

19. Let’s take a closer look at 300-399 SOCIAL SCIENCES Getting Along in the World, Fairy Tales & Folklore We could call this Getting Along in the World, Fairy Tales & Folklore, with books about Communication Money & Law Education Family Life Dragons Fairy Tales

20. Popular Topics in the 000’s, the 100’s, the 200’s, the 300’s UFO’s & the Unexplained 001 Encyclopedias 031 Dreams! Greek & Roman mythology Religion 200 - 289 292 154 398 363 Recycling King Arthur

21. Let’s take a closer look at 400-499 lANGUAGES Languages & Speech We could call this Languages & Speech, with books about things like Learning to Speak Foreign Languages Dictionaries Grammar & Parts of Speech Sign Language Dictionaries

22. Let’s take a closer look at 500-599 Natural Sciences & Mathematics Mathematics Science & Nature We could call this Science & Nature with books about things like Experiments Math Wild Animals & Zoos Seasons & Weather Planets Our Bodies

23. Let’s take a closer look at 600-699 TECHNOLOGY Useful Science We could call this Useful Science with books about things like How Things Work or Are Made Health & Medicines Airplanes & Space Travel Cookbooks Pets & How to Care for Them Farming & Farm Animals

24. Popular Topics in the 400’s, the 500’s, the 600’s Astronomy Sharks Dinosaurs Health Weather 423 523 597 551 567 610-619 Dictionaries Transport 621-629

25. Let’s take a closer look at 700-799 ARTS & RECREATION Fun Stuff We could call this Fun Stuff with books about Arts, Artists, & How to Draw Jokes & Riddles Sports Singing & Dancing Gardens Crafts

26. Let’s take a closer look at 800-899 Literature Literature Even though much Literature is Fiction, Mr. Dewey made a category anyway, with books like Poetry Plays Classic Literature (think Shakespeare) Stories from Around the World

27. Let’s take a closer look at 900-999 History & Geography World History Famous People Ancient Civilizations Travel Explorers Atlases where you might find books about

28. Popular Topics in the 700’s, the 800’s, the 900’s Sports Medieval Explorers British Literature 820-829 940 910 796 793.8 973-979 Magic Tricks United States

29. How Does Dewey Help? Dewey numbers can be used to create very specific groups of books, all about the same topic or subject. This is why you can look at the nonfiction books on the library shelves and see that books on the same subject are always kept together. What a great Idea!

30. “Dewey decimal for kids.” Retrieved June 26 from http://breitlinks.com/dewey_for_kids.htm. http://breitlinks.com/dewey_for_kids.htm The Dewey decimal system.” Retrieved June 26, 2008 from http://www.mikids.com/Deweygroups.htm. http://www.mikids.com/Deweygroups.htm "Do We" Really Know Dewey? Retrieved June 24, 2008 from http://library.thinkquest.org/5002/. http://library.thinkquest.org/5002/ Hogsett, Nancy. "Teaching Dewey." Library Media Connection (2006): 28-31. 12 June 2008. “How and why wonder books.” Retrieved June 24, 2008 http://www.rocketroberts.com/how_and_why/how_and_why.htm. http://www.rocketroberts.com/how_and_why/how_and_why.htm “How one library pioneer profoundly influenced modern librarianship.” OCLC. Retrieved June 14, 2008, from http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/biography/. http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/biography/ Prescott, Sarah. “If you knew Dewey.” School Library Journal 8/1/2001. Retrieved June 24, 2008, from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA148748.html. “Where can I find... (Getting to know the Dewey decimal system). Retrieved June 26, 2008 fromhttp://www.emerson.k12.nj.us/staff/rmkelly/custom/mediace nter/Kids%20Corner/Dewey/DeweyDecimal.html.http://www.emerson.k12.nj.us/staff/rmkelly/custom/mediace nter/Kids%20Corner/Dewey/DeweyDecimal.html Bibliography