The decimal system of Dewey (CDD) is a system aiming at classifying the whole of the human knowledge inside a Bibliothèque, developed by Melvil Dewey in 1876. It was supplemented and improved by the universal Decimal system (CDU) developed by Henri the Fountain and Paul Otlet.

Principles

The CDD distributes the works into ten general classes noted from 000 to 900. Each class itself is divided into ten divisions . Each division is divided into ten subdivisions and so on. A index dewey includes/understands at least three digits. One supplements if necessary the significant figures with zeros. A point separates the third from the fourth figure, then a space separates each group of three digits starting from the sixth figure. Although the system offers in theory infinite possibilities, the indices of more than six digits are generally not very useful.

Example of successive divisions

  • 6 - Techniques. The index is 600, because one needs at least three digits
    • 64 - domestic Life. The index is 640, because one needs at least three digits
      • 641 - Food
        • 641.5 - Kitchen. A point separates the third from the fourth figure
          • 641.57 - kitchen for the communities

Evolution

Although having been improved considerably during twenty major revisions, the CDD always reflects the general organization of the knowledge such as one conceived it with the the United States at the end of XIXesiècle. This is why the philosophy and the religion, for example, which perhaps accounted for 10% of the leading production at that time, have today still a position raised in classification, in spite of the reduction in this proportion. It is a source of criticism of the CDD, which thus relegates many works in obscure subdivisions simply because they treat only Western thought; in particular, the religions not-Christian women appear only in division 29 (a tenth of the space devoted to the religions), and the European literature and the history are dominant compared to the others (as they are it in the shelves of the Bibliothèque of the Congress states-unien).

The universal Decimal system (CDU) is derived from the CDD.

Registered trademark

Since 1988, the classification of Dewey is a registered trade name by Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) which bought the rights to Forest Close Foudation, created by Melvil Dewey to continue its work.

The first two levels of classification

000 - General information

  • 000
  • 010 Bibliography
  • 020 Biblio-economics and information sciences
  • 030 general Encyclopedias
  • 040 Steps or more used.
  • 050 Publications in series of general order
  • 060 general Organizations and Museology
  • 070 Journalism, edition, newspapers
  • 080 general Collections
  • 090 Handwritten S and rare books

100 - Philosophy and Psychology

  • 100
  • 110 Metaphysical
  • 120 Knowledge, causes, finality, the man
  • 130 Phenomena paranormaux, Parapsychologie
  • the 140 various philosophical systems
  • 150 Psychology
  • 160 Logique
  • 170 Éthique (moral Philosophy)
  • 180 old, medieval, Eastern Philosophy
  • 190 modern Western Philosophy

200 - Religion S

  • 200
  • 210 natural Religion
  • 220 Bible
  • 230 Theology doctrinal Christian woman
  • 240 moral and spiritual Theology Christian
  • 250 local Churches, religious congregations
  • 260 Theology and company, ecclesiology
  • 270 History and geography of the Church
  • 280 Christian Confessions and sects
  • 290 Other compared religions and religions

300 - Social sciences

400 - Language S

  • 400
  • 410 Linguistic
  • 420 Languages English and Anglo-Saxon
  • 430 Germanic Languages. German
  • 440 Romance Languages. French
  • 450 Languages Italian, Rumanian, rétho-Romance
  • 460 Languages Spanish and Portuguese E
  • 470 Languages Italic. Latin
  • 480 Hellenic Languages. Greek traditional
  • 490 Other languages and groups of languages

500 - Science S

  • 500
  • 510 Mathematical
  • 520 related Astronomy and sciences
  • 530 Physical
  • 540 related Chemistry and sciences
  • 550 Sciences of the Earth
  • 560 Paleontology. Paleozoology
  • 570 Life sciences
  • 580 Botanical
  • 590 Zoology

600 - Technical S

  • 600
  • 610 Medical sciences
  • 620 Art of the engineer, activities related
  • 630 Agriculture and related techniques
  • 640 domestic Arts and domestic sciences
  • 650 Management sciences and technology related
  • 660 Chemical engineering and related techniques
  • 670 industrial Production
  • 680 various Manufacture
  • 690 building S

700 - Art S, Leisure S and Sport S

  • 700
  • 710 Town planning and art of the landscape
  • 720 Architecture
  • 730 Visual arts, Sculpture
  • 740 Drawing, decorative arts and minor arts
  • 750 the Painting and paintings
  • 760 Graphic arts, Engravings
  • 770 the Photography and the photographs
  • 780 Music
  • 790 Leisures: spectacles, plays, sports

800 - Literature

  • 800
  • 810 American Literature
  • C810 Canadian-English Literature
  • 820 Literatures English and Anglo-Saxon
  • 830 Literatures of the Germanic languages
  • 840 Literatures of the Romance languages. French Literature
  • C840 Literature Canadian-Frenchwoman. Québécois Literature
  • 850 Literatures Italian, Rumanian, rétho-Romance
  • 860 Literatures Spanish and Portuguese
  • 870 Literatures of the Italic languages. Latin literature
  • 880 Literatures of the Hellenic languages. Greek literature
  • 890 Literatures of the other languages and groups of languages

900 - Geography and History

  • 900
  • 910 general Geography. Voyages
  • 920 universal Biography and genealogy
  • 930 general History of the old world
  • 940 general History of Europe
  • 950 general History of Asia
  • 960 general History of Africa
  • 970 general History of North America
  • 980 general History of South America
  • 990 general History of the other areas of the world

Limits of the system

Any classification constitutes a compromise between the objective to simplify the task of the classifier and that to simplify the task of the researcher. In the case of the classification of Dewey, it is the first of these two factors which was privileged: it is not possible to be documented on a subject without knowing very precisely with which discipline to attach it. However that poses problem when a work milked precisely of the bond between two disciplines. The Bio-data processing, for example, will it be to seek in section 500 or 600? And more precisely 570 or 620? As it is not possible to answer with precision this question, the classification of Dewey will be supplemented other techniques usefully like:

  • the KWIC (Key Word In Context)

  • the Research full text by means of the suitable computer tools.

The principal criticism of this classification is that it represents the frame of mind of the end of the XIXe century which does not correspond any more to our current design of knowledge. Thus, in class 200, the Christian religions are surreprésentées while the other religions are classified in only one subclass. Classes 400 and 800 pose this same problem: only the European culture is represented.

External bonds

  • OCLC
  • OCLC
  • the first three levels of the CDD

Simple: Decimal Dewey System

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