Essential Dewey

Citation

Brunt, R. (2005), "Essential Dewey", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 39 No. 4, pp. 382-384. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330510628006

In times past, perhaps when the market was greater and the library and information science (LIS) curriculum less crowded, there were many examples of cataloguing and classification texts to support the study of these essentials of the subject field. There was a wide choice, ranging from the comprehensive to those focused on a particular activity or an individual bibliographic standard, such as Perreault (1969) on the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) and Hunter's (1973) Examples illustrating AACR. These texts and, for want of another description, bench books or manuals, augmented the library school produced documentation distributed as part of the standard approach to the initiation to the craft of “cat'n'class”.

They appeared in several formats: the continuous text treating specific aspects of each standard or process; or as examination guidebooks, such as Quigg (1966); or the programmed texts, precursor of hypertext presentation, such as Batty's Introductions to Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) (Batty, 1965, 1990) and Colon Classification (Batty, 1966) – which invited the student to select his or her answer from options on different pages and enabled further exposition depending on whether the chosen answer was right or wrong. In such ways students were able to work on sets of examples of wider scope and in greater depth than could have been provided by lecturers.

After what seems to be a depressingly long time in the doldrums, during which faith in the computer's indexing and retrieval powers led to the diminution of the practical teaching of bibliographic standards, there appears to be a revival of fortunes; and with this revival have come the successors to Hunter, Batty et al. Bowman has already produced an eminently useful text on cataloguing, bringing us up to date with AACR2. He has now produced a similarly welcome book on DDC, which brings us to the current, 22nd, edition.

The book contains 10 chapters; and is completed with a section giving answers to the exercises located in most of the chapters, along with a bibliography and an index which includes not only references to specific operations in the scheme, but also to the more descriptive elements in the book. Of the ten, the majority relate – in increasing complexity – to the facilities and processes of the scheme. Two provide some scene setting material; and in the final chapter may be found a brief introduction to the electronic version – WebDewey.

Chapter 1 begins with the purpose of classification, but very quickly introduces the concept of citation order and also the idea of relative location; these (in some respects difficult ideas) usefully reinforce the very basic points made in the preceding sections of the chapter. There follows a brief history of DDC and consideration of some of its characteristics, warts and all.

This leads into the second chapter which outlines the scheme in both intellectual aspects and the presentational. It helpfully covers elements scattered about the scheme's own introduction and neatly summarises aspects likely to concern the newcomer, pre‐empting many of the questions put to the tutor, such as why there exist such things as centred (“‘centered’ in American spelling” – a nice touch, another nice pre‐emption) entries. Here are introduced all the important aspects which feature in later exposition.

Chapters 3, 4 and 5 cover the core activities of establishing numbers for subjects in DDC. The first gets us started with simple subjects and stresses the role of the relative index. The next chapter covers synthetics based on the use of the standard subdivisions; and chapter 5 the application of other methods including the remaining tables and the whole scheme as a megatable. All three are equipped with exercises which cover a wide range of topics.

Chapter 6 deals with preference order and provides a return to the discussion of citation order first mentioned in Chapter 1. This relatively short chapter gets right to the heart of how to determine the true “aboutness” of any subject and how to find its proper location in the scheme.

Chapter 7 covers exceptions and options and includes those such as the displacement of standard subdivisions and the treatment of place and time facets; and options such as those for bibliographies. Having introduced the idea, he leaves more specific examples to Chapter 8. The chapter, though, ends with some very useful practical advice, which includes NOT adopting options, especially if there is a likelihood of the buying in of records. An important tip is that any options which are decided upon must be documented so that the consistency of practice might be ensured.

Chapter 8 is by far the longest chapter and it deals with “special subjects”, i.e. particularly awkward (or interesting, depending on your point of view) parts of the scheme to handle. Virtually all major divisions are included, but some, e.g. the 300s, attract greater attention than others. It is necessarily selective, given, as Bowman says, that there are so many, and comprehensive coverage is really beyond the scope of an introductory work.

Chapter 9 on compounds discusses those occasions where there are present more than one principal focus in a work to be classified. Exercises are also provided in chapters 6‐9 to enable readers to test their learning.

The features and application of WebDewey are covered briefly. Bowman makes the important point that familiarity with the print version facilitates its use. The reviewer would go further – without the eye‐brain collaboration allowed in hard copy (or considerable personal experience or availability in the corporate memory of a cataloguing department) the electronic can prove frustrating.

The book is nicely presented and easy to handle; and the writing style encouraging. The contents page – in a revival of a nineteenth century practice – provides a summary and index to the specific sections of each chapter and is a convenience which complements the index at the back. The book might also be regarded as a useful preparation for reading Broughton's (2004) Essential Classification in that Bowman introduces classification as a practical activity, the basics of which having been grasped permit better understanding of the theoretical treatment in Broughton.

It is clear that the book achieves what it sets out to do, i.e. provide an easy introduction for library school students and those experienced practitioners turning to DDC for the first time, and this reviewer would certainly recommend its purchase.