Reference List

Fister, B. (2009). The dewey dilemma. Library Journal, 134(16), 22-25.

Hamilton, V. (2007). No difference. School Library Journal, 53(10), 13-13.

Hogsett, N. (2006). Teaching dewey. Library Media Connection, 24(4), 28-31.

Lynch, S. N., & Mulero, E. (2007). Dewey? at this library with a very different outlook, they don't. New York Times, , 7.

Prescott, S. (2001). If you knew dewey.. School Library Journal, 47(8), 50.

Shorten, J., Seikel, M., & Ahrberg, J. H. (2005). Why do you still use dewey? Library Resources & Technical Services, 49(2), 123-136.

Stauffer, S. M. (2008). Dewey-or don't we-classify? Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 6(2), 49-51.

Whelan, D. L. (2007). Arizona library ditches dewey. School Library Journal, 53(7), 14-14.

Why I Would Use Dewey

          

In particular to my own vision for how libraries and their resources should be utilized presently and in the future, I think that the Dewey Decimal System is a suitable, adaptable and workable system that can be instituted. The means by which we are teaching this method on a variety of levels seems to go from lacking to non-existent. As educators, library media specialists and collectors and evaluators of resources, if we plan to implement a specific method such as the DDC in our library we have to educate our patrons as to its proper use. There seems to be evidence that there is a distinct lacking in this department across the United States which consequently means that as library patrons grow older, they become increasingly confused with the seemingly complex nature of the Dewey Decimal System. Without proper information, the system seems so disconnected that of course the numbers are imposing and confusing leading planners to look elsewhere for organizational guidance. Pruitt-Annisette (2007) notes, “Dismantling Dewey simply removes a structured approach to the access and evaluation of information and implies that students in the 21st century have no need for understanding what they are doing, how it is done, and why it is necessary”(p.13). However, we must understand that the hierarchy is built to facilitate the academic purpose of libraries, and as educators first and foremost we need to make this clear. This fuels my decision to use the DDC above all else. I prefer a very structured and organized method to my research, and the DDC builds that hierarchy for me and can refer me to further resources related to my subject matter.


As a professional planning to eventually make a home instructing at a university or working in an academic resource center setting, organization of materials and giving students the tools to approach the resources provided to them is paramount. The fore mentioned evidence suggests that students need several different layers of education with visuals, hands on activities and exposure to the Dewey Decimal System at different levels within their educational experience. Even at the University Level, there is a minimal amount of education about how to properly browse our library and make the most use of the resources available. The history department does have a Historical Research course but there are very basic principles introduced and no real workshops on how to use the actual call numbers within our library is ever introduced. Expecting students to educate themselves on an organizational method is simply unreasonable. I can also refer to library classes at the elementary level simply turning into a time where students walk around and browse and pick the first interesting book they come across, with no real knowledge of why it was located in a specific area.


Finally, it is important to round off this educational effort about the Dewey Decimal System with some strategies to apply this method to our own situation. For instance, if in fact we are working in a large scale academic library perhaps using the system and coupling it with a computer database is not enough. Once students leave their computer and search into the stacks themselves, it is important to have maps for specific sections also indicating which number coincides with a subject area. A system of color coding or mapping could also be put into place to further emphasis the hierarchy. In contrast, working within the confines of an elementary school setting brings other issues to the forefront. Simply understanding that, “Most elementary students have no clue what the terms ‘social sciences’ and ‘generalities’ mean…”(Hogsett, 2006, p. 29), means that while leaving the decimal system in place we may have to alter the names of subject areas to more kid friendly terms. The Dewey Decimal System already provides a means by which it updates itself to current trends in resources, however the problem with current society is that we want this system to adapt to us. This is further proven by the movement to get rid of Dewey and institute a more user (customer) friendly method of organization such as Book Store. While I cannot deny that it may be more democratic in nature for a many books to be on display, the functionality of the DDC trumps its competitors when put to academic purpose. My suggestion is that we go “old school” and institute real library classes into schools starting at an early age to prepare students for the DDC and research they will extract from its use later in their lives.

Inherent Prejudices Behind Dewey

        

I think it important to evaluate any type of research tool by the principles that are proposed in thorough research. Since the Dewey Decimal System was created to facilitate academic research and academic library browsing with its established hierarchy, the principle of bias should be taken into account. Although Dewey is fairly straight forward, there is one area in particular that is of particular concern regarding the DDC and its bias towards some types of resources.


In regard to bias, every library is going to have a certain type of resource that they may specialize in simply because of the type of patronage they have to their establishment. Another factor that may play a role are the administrators, collectors, curators and library staff that run the said library and their particular educational background. As I have made mention of before, Melvil Dewey was the product of up-state New York in the mid 1800’s and would have been very Western-Centric. This was a time period where American’s believed in manifest destiny, or the belief that God destined our country to expand across the globe. This combined with the collection Dewey had at hand at Amherst College to experiment with his new categorization method, led to some inherent bias in the DDC. Lynch and Mulero (2007) elaborate further noting that, “…Dewey had a strong classification bias when it was created. There was an emphasis on topics like Christianity and American history, for example, and not enough on Eastern religions and on history outside of the American experience” (p.1). Keep in mind that the emphasis they speak of is not on the literature itself, but on the hierarchy that was established. Unfortunately, this bias is reality and has changed over the twenty revisions made the DDC since its creation. Systems are the product of the time period they were created and the people who devised them, and the Dewey Decimal System is a perfect example of this.

Disadvantages of the Dewey Decimal System

Avid Readers Don’t Need It




The influence of leisure materials into libraries in contemporary society is one that may have Melvil Dewey cringe a bit. I would be the first to admit that although I love the organizational method and hierarchical structure of the DDC, it can hamstring a patron who is simply visiting the library to check out their favorite series of books quickly and efficiently. In reference to this dilemma of leisure readers Pruitt-Annisette (2007) denotes, “Avid readers in the public library setting who wish only to read best-sellers or the latest gardening books do not need Dewey to find these items. Display cases and book carts meet the needs of these patrons” (p.13). Because there are a significant amount of library patrons who are not deeply involved in academic research regardless of level, the hierarchy of the DDC does not apply to their experience. Of course the importance of the DDC at academic institutions trumps the need to cater to avid readers, but with more libraries opening in local neighborhoods and towns the movement towards more user friendly methods of organization is becoming more popular.



The Numbers Are Scary




Whether it is lack of education or simply being overwhelmed, the Dewey Decimal System loses users and patrons because of the removal of a linear relationship between book and classification marker. What I mean by this is that there is simply no relationship between the number 100 and Philosophy and Psychology to the average library visitor. Again, Dewey developed his system at a university and for the purpose of organizing a collection so that academic research could be conducted in as an efficient manner as possible. The confusion over the number system developed by Dewey is highlighted by Fister (2009) when she recalls, “‘I heard over and over ‘those numbers scare me’, ‘I don’t understand them’, ‘they make me feel stupid’” (p. 22). To go through an intricate set of numbers that have no correlation or relevance to the subject matter seems, is an exercise in futility to a patron who is simply looking for a good read. The popularity of book stores that are inviting their visitors to relax and embraces walking around and browsing for fun and not function, underlines the distinct difference in this type of reader to that of an academic researcher.

Advantages of the Dewey Decimal System

        

As I discussed before, there are inherent advantages and disadvantages to any library organizational method. It is important to identify both parties when evaluating which method you should use in your own situation. However, other factors such as collection size, availability of technological components, ease of adaptation and application to academic writing make a significant impression on the effective nature of the DDC.










Ability to Organize Large Collections






The larger a collection grows, the more specific in nature the organizational method used to catalogue its contents must become. Oppositional methods such as the Book Store Method (BISAC) simply place books into a generic section based on broad categories and shelf the books alphabetically according the author name. The simplistic nature of this method lends itself to libraries that largely rely on their patrons coming in for leisure reading, and not academic research. In order to build valid support to ones argument, a well planned hierarchy of research and thought must be established. As Fister (2009) notes, “Dewey can sort large collections into more specific groups than BISAC can” (p. 24). Given this remark, if one is looking for a book on the Engineering of the Apollo 11 Spacecraft, this may be a bit difficult to find in the BISAC library simply because one cannot track the book from section, to shelf to resource.










Easily Revised and Expanded






The DDC provides a method that can be improved upon and keep up with the increasing amount of media and resources in contemporary society. The decimal system lends itself to being adjusted and changed based on how materials ebb and flow with changing times. Through the first 124 years of the Dewey Decimal System, 21editions of the unabridged Dewey Decimal Classification were published (Multimedia Tour). This is a testament to its longevity and ability to apply to a variety of time periods and publications.










Modern Technology Is Applicable






Authors Shorten, Seikel and Ahrberg (2005) found through their survey research, “‘patrons can browse it easily on their computers’” (p. 129). I have a feeling that most of the criticism of the Dewey Decimal System stems from the feeling that it in fact is so old. However, I have tried to give reasons why this method is indeed flexible and applicable in contemporary times and here is another reason to consider this presumption. The advent of computer technology merging with the library was one that was inevitable, and helpful for the cause of the DDC. The options are endless for the application of database technology, in particular affecting the way in which people actually can transfer their search results to actually finding a book. Because the BISAC method only organizes books in a specific section, that specificity is not provided down to the shelf and call number.

Who Uses the Dewey Decimal System?

       

Let us skip the formalities and get right to the facts. As Fister (2009) declares, “…Dewey is currently the most widely used classification system in the world, employed in 138 countries by over 200,000 libraries” (p. 25). In my own experience, I think at every level in my education I have utilized a library which employed some form of Dewey Decimal System. Even at the elementary school level, in good old St. Stephen School in Pittsburgh, PA we were drilled with the DDC as soon as we could count our hundreds. Assignments consisted of librarians instructing us on the number system, giving us the title of a book and asking us to place it in the correct category, find it and copy a sentence down from a specific page. My story would explain that fact that, “In the United States, 25% of academic libraries and 95% of public and school libraries use the DDC” (Multimedia Tour). Moving forward from that small aside, from the simple fact that the DDC is used in so many different countries means that it has in a sense become its own language (which Melvil Dewey would be very impressed with). From a library that is servicing a small town to a large university, Dewey offers an organizational method that gives patrons the tools to open their minds to a variety of topics.


This further supports the notion that all of these institutions may not use Dewey in the same way, but may structure it according to their own specific purpose. Although Dewey was obsessed with that hierarchy he worked so hard to establish, “His goal was not to become famous but rather to have every library use his system so that libraries would become more cohesive and efficient” (Prescott, 2001, p. 50). In abiding with his wish, perhaps in taking a serious look at how to promote its use and adapt it to our own library is the correct way to utilize a very effective system. The “who” in the field of organizing and distributing information often plays as much of a role as the “what” or “how”.

Basic Principles of Dewey

         

Cataloguing our thoughts, events and important facts on a daily basis presents us with enough trouble that we rely on a myriad of devices and strategies to help guide us through the fray. When it comes to the Dewey Decimal System, guiding library patrons through the myriad of resources relies on a system which categorizes these items into a traceable hierarchy. Once learned and applied, this hierarchy provides academia with a useable framework that can be consistently improved upon depending on the size and extent of a collection.


Dewey did live in a time of progress; however that progression has accelerated over the past fifty years providing libraries with resources that come not only in book form, but in the form of multimedia, periodicals, audio, and video among many. In an academic sense, the DDC sets out to categorize all of these resources under the umbrella of ten main classes and numbers these from zero to nine and filling in necessary gaps with zeros (Multimedia Tour). These classifications help to support academic research and name subject areas such as; 100 Philosophy and Psychology, 200 Religion, 300 Social Sciences, 400 Language, 500 Science, 600 Technology, 700 Arts and Recreation, 800 Literature, 900 History & Geography. If instructed on the use of the DDC properly, the random nature of the numbers makes sense following those simple guidelines. From here, the hierarchical nature of the DDC begins to break down each classification further from broad to specific. For a simplistic breakdown, let’s take 100 Philosophy and Psychology to the next level. Once you have established the area of study you wish to research more about then breakdown this subject a bit further. You may ask which area of Philosophy or Psychology interests me? Perhaps you chose epistemology for instance, the DDC takes over here because it breaks down the 100 Philosophy and Psychology into ten more categories. For instance;


100 Philosophy


110 Metaphysics


120 Epistemology


130 Astrology, Parapsychology & the Occult


140 Philosophical Schools of Thought


150 Psychology


160 Logic


170 Ethics


180 Ancient, Medieval & Eastern Philosophy


190 Modern Western Philosophy


Finally for the purpose of demonstration we will move one more step further and move to the ones spot (000). Epistemology has its own inherent categories and itself can be broken down even further. Even though the level and hierarchy keeps building and building, each specific idea or field of study has its own specific place in the decimal system and once the framework is given for a student, colleague or patron to use they should find what they are looking for with relative ease. If we were to look for information on Epistemology of Self, we would find this in the 126. So it should be noted that although it can seem complex, Dewey created this system to facilitate research which should move from the broad to the complex.


Consequently, this raises yet another question regarding the organization of library collections. We must understand that we build our collections with our patrons in mind, therefore we should ask who uses the Dewey Decimal System and how relevant is it to today’s academic researcher or common library visitor.

Purpose of the Dewey Decimal System and its Development

         

Amidst the discussion of the advance of our society in a multitude of ways, recent progress has been made in regard to the way we are distributing and evaluating the world’s information. More so than ever before, the variety of ways we can locate and utilize a variety of resources puts an extreme amount of pressure on those who are responsible for organizing the world’s resources.

In contemporary society, arguments and debates in academia about how resources in the library setting should be organized have run rampant for years and many independent as well as established systems have been put into place that give patrons the tools to browse, borrow and utilize all that a library has to offer. However, the academic library has evolved over the decades into not only a tool of academic research. Libraries have become a location to meet people, discuss ideas, find and check out favorite fiction and biographical literature. Since there is an apparent change in the way a library is utilized by the general public and academia, should there be an inherent shift in the way we organize collections. Perhaps this question is better suited to be answered given some insight into a person and system that revolutionized library functionality.

Understanding Melvil Dewey and the Dewey Decimal System as strange as it may sound, may shed some light onto our own times and efforts to find our way through the clutter of information. Dewey was born into an age of reform in 1851 in up state New York, reform not only within the political bounds of our country but of the world. He found himself growing and learning in times that produced scientific, educational and religious changes. If we look deep enough, perhaps we can see that the nature of progress in his lifetime shaped him as he endless thirsted for knowledge and efficiency (Prescott, 2001, p. 50).

In another twist that mirrors our own society today and could explain our struggles with organizing resources, is that once Dewey reached Amherst College in 1871and began to work towards his ultimate goal of improving education his employment opportunity put him face to face with his ultimate destiny. Prescott (2001) indicates his impatience with his employment at the Amherst Library due to, “The inefficient way that books we catalogued and shelved (in the order acquired) bothered his orderly mind, and so with characteristic, he threw himself into studying the problem” (p. 51). As an individual who was extremely academic, proper research was not facilitated by this particular library and many of its day because books and resources were not categorized by the nature that academic institutions structured their curriculum.

Perhaps Dewey himself could see the usefulness of creating a system that would allow one to decide on their particular area of interest, locate the resource and information easily and perhaps expand the topic further due to the surrounding resources. The final product of his desire for efficiency became the Dewey Decimal System (DDC). As stated earlier, even though the DDC can serve libraries in many different settings, its ultimate purpose is to provide a means for library patrons at a variety of levels to find pertinent material and put it to a purposeful venture such as research. Stauffer (2008) remarks that by using an efficient system of decimals, “The primary purpose of DDC is to organize materials according to precise subject in a systematic arrangement from the general to the specific. Besides making it possible to easily locate a given item, such an arrangement supports browsing more effectively than arranging materials by the author’s last name within a broad general category because each book is related to those on either side by specific subject, not alphabetical accident” (p. 49). The gentle progression of decimals and efficient nature that materials are organized from broad to specific mirrors how research from elementary to university is structured. The DDC certainly serves this academic purpose and has for well over one hundred years. Furthermore, describing the specific background and purpose of Melvil Dewey’s system only highlights the issues contemporary society may have with the its institution in a majority of libraries. If the belief holds true that libraries should be structured to serve the needs of its patrons, what if their needs are not that of research but of simply finding a favorite novel and returning it weekly?

As I briefly delve into the principles behind the system and how it can be applied in a research setting I hope to make you understand that there are advantages and disadvantages to any system. Although the DDC can seem to be intimidating, perhaps we have moved away from our responsibility as educators, curators and compilers of these resources to instruct the next generation of researchers.