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15 December 2005

That's all, folks

Dewey blog readers around the world will rejoice at the results of the high-level crisis meeting we had at the Manor yesterday -- that lazy "Ideas of the year" riff has finally been put to bed. (Until next year.) Actually, it transpires that we could all do with a bit of a rest, so this will be the final blog entry of 2005. We'll be back on January 3, Twenty-oh-six! (Mark those calendars.) Oh, and the next set of LCSH/DDC mappings will be posted on the Dewey web site on January 6. In the meantime -- from everyone at the Manor to everyone out there in Deweyland -- happy holidays!

Posted by at 11:31 AM in DDC mappings from LCSH | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

14 December 2005

Food for thought II

It was holiday party time for the denizens of Dewey Manor yesterday, and we all went out and consumed preposterous quantities of dim sum (641.812) in celebration. Opinions differed on whether the sauce expressly designated "hot sauce" (641.814) was indeed hotter than the mustard sauce, but otherwise congeniality -- one might even say conviviality -- reigned. Back at the Manor today, and we're still obsessed with Sunday's New York Times Magazine. How much longer can we spin this one out for, you may well ask? Well, there are 78 "Ideas of the Year" in the original article, and we've covered six so far, so ... There's still the burning question of where to class all those works on the phone companies' DUI (Dialing Under the Influence) services. (The idea here is that, before you embark on any program of consumption of alcohol that might otherwise lead you to "drink and dial," you can alert your service provider to any number in particular that you should be prevented from calling until 6am the following morning.) That's an easy one, actually: standing room at 384.64 Activities and services [of telephony] in 380 Commerce, communications, transportation. But then what about works on runaway alarm clocks? Urine-powered batteries? Splogs? All we'll say on these matters is this: 681.116 Electric clocks; 621.31242 Electrochemical energy conversion; and ... hmm ... bear with us on that last one.

Posted by at 05:23 PM in 300-399 Social sciences, 600-699 Technology, DDC number of the day | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

13 December 2005

Food for thought

Just up the road from Dewey Manor, at the University of Maryland, boffins are growing meat in their lab. "In 20 years," it says here (in Sunday's New York Times Magazine), "they may be able to grow a whole beef or pork loin." We might even all be using "a countertop device similar to a bread maker that would produce meat overnight in your kitchen." Sounds yummy, no? The number for interdisciplinary works on meat is 641.36 under 641 Food in 640 Home and family management, but works about growing edible muscle fibers from animal stem cells would go in standing room at 664.9 Meats and allied foods in 660 Chemical engineering and related technologies. If that's not enough to put a spring in your step, how about another of 2005's great ideas: maggot debridement therapy, which involves using live maggots to clean out wounds faster than you can say "antibiotic." Simply place five to ten maggots on each square centimeter of wound, leave them there for a couple of days (you may experience a "tingling sensation"), and hey presto!, all nasty bacteria and dead tissue will have been zapped. If you're skeptical, check out the classic Maggot therapy: A handbook of maggot-assisted wound healing, which is classed at 617.106 Nonsurgical therapy under 617.1 Injuries and wounds.

Posted by at 09:55 AM in 600-699 Technology, DDC number of the day | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

12 December 2005

What's the big idea?

Nobody seems to be able to mention folksonomies (025.35) these days without making the obligatory reference to the "elegant" system they're supposedly due to replace, and so it was no surprise to see the New York Times Magazine take the same tack yesterday in its "5th Annual Year in Ideas." But we got distracted, naturally, by certain questions about some of the other big ideas. Specifically, where would works about these ideas be classed in the DDC? We're delighted to note that we dealt with one of them -- pleistocene rewilding (333.9596) -- earlier in the year. But what about econophysics, for instance? This is the application of methods developed in statistical physics to the study of finance, markets, income distribution, and so on. Comprehensive works on statistical physics are classed at 530.1595, adding to base number 530.15 Mathematical physics the numbers following 51 in 519.5 Statistical mathematics. A work on the use of statistical mathematics in the study of income distribution would be classed at 339.2015195, adding to base number 339.2 Distribution of income and wealth the standard subdivision T1–015195 Statistical mathematics; similarly, 330.015195 would be the number for works on applications of statistical mathematics in economics more generally. As for forehead billboards (a.k.a., skinvertising: exactly what you think it is) -- look no further than standing room at 659.134 Advertising by location of media. More ideas-of-the-year and their DDC correlates coming up tomorrow!

Posted by at 03:15 PM in 000-099 Computer science, information & general works, 300-399 Social sciences, 500-599 Science, 600-699 Technology, DDC number of the day | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

09 December 2005

Dewey Teaser: Eighth note

The Dewey Teaser lives on. Thanks to everytwo of you who flooded our inbox last week with suggestions of DDC-related quotes from classic works of literature, we're able to stumble on with our exciting competition -- maybe even limp into the New Year. How about that? This week's teaser, which comes courtesy of Nick, could be the trickiest yet. In fact, if you get this one, we will be forced to make serious inquiries as to what exactly it is that you think you're doing with your life. Nevertheless: here goes. Whence comes this misguided speech?

"What better place to begin my reign of Communist terror and oppression than a memorial to that decadent and imperialist American, Melvil Dewey, hated originator of the Dewey Decimal System!! I, The Red Scare, will ruin this place for everyone!!"

Posted by at 10:13 AM in DDC in arts and culture | | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

08 December 2005

Elliptical trainer

Those tips went down so well the other week, we thought we'd come right back at you with an even hotter one.

Q: I looked in the Relative Index of the print version of DDC 22 for the number for works about librarians, and it told me 020.92. But when I checked on WebDewey, the caption at 020.92 says it's for works about archivists. What's going on?

A: The number 020.92 is a built number, constructed by taking the base number 020 for Library and information sciences, dropping the terminal zero, and adding the "biography" number —092 Persons from Table 1: Standard Subdivisions. It isn't listed in the schedules of the print version of DDC, but it does have its own entry in WebDewey, where the caption is given as "Archivists, ..." The comma and ellipsis in the caption indicate that more than one Relative Index term is associated with the number, and that the single term given in the caption (in this case, "Archivists") is simply the one that comes first when those terms are ordered alphabetically. A complete list of Relative Index terms associated with a number is given at the bottom of that number's WebDewey display. Three terms are associated with 020.92: "Archivists," "Information scientists," and "Librarians."

The form of the caption for built numbers in WebDewey is explained in the WebDewey User Guide, in the section "WebDewey Record Structure," under "Caption":

For each DDC number in the schedules, tables, and manual, a caption (heading) defines the subject or subdivision that number represents. For built numbers, the caption given is the first Relative Index term (in alphabetic order) associated with that number. Therefore, if a built number contains more than one Relative Index term, note all the Relative Index terms associated to it; all associated Relative Index terms can apply to that number, not merely the alphabetically first Relative Index term associated to the built number in its caption. ... Captions with ellipses. Captions that end with ellipses occur only in records for built numbers. Built numbers do not appear in the DDC schedules but are constructed according to add instructions stated or implied in the schedules or tables. WebDewey uses the associated Relative Index term as the caption for a built number. If multiple Relative Index terms are associated with a built number, the first term in alphabetical order appears as the caption, followed by ellipses. (Ellipses, which also appear in browse results, indicate that more than one Relative Index term is associated to a given built number.)

Thanks to Arlene Taylor for the original idea for this tip, and to Winton and Juli for the details of the answer.

Posted by at 10:53 AM in 000-099 Computer science, information & general works, DDC tip of the week | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

07 December 2005

Crisis? What crisis?

If you're concerned about the cereals crisis, worry no more. For the Dewey Breakfast is back again, and this one is the biggest. It's also the best. And, indeed, the breakfastiest. What better way could there be to kick-start your ALA Midwinter weekend? We'll be talking about the recent updates to Table 3C—3 Arts and literature dealing with specific themes and subjects; upcoming updates to Table 5 for works on Native American peoples; and our plans for a new general option in 200 Religion. We'll be giving a sneak preview of the new development at 741.5 for graphic novels; and Diane Vizine-Goetz from OCLC's Office of Research will be there to talk about research on enhancements to DeweyBrowser to improve users' access to works of fiction. As always, you'll get to meet everyone from Dewey Manor, and catch up with all your fellow Deweyophiles. The fun begins at 7:00am on Saturday, January 21, 2006, in Room 103A of the Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX; you can register to attend via the OCLC web site, here. See you there!

Posted by at 12:59 PM in 200-299 Religion, 700-799 Arts & recreation, DDC in the conference hall, DDC in the research lab, DDC tables | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

06 December 2005

Pictures at an exhibition

Ddcdeutsch1Dewey-Dezimalklassifikation und Register, the German translation of DDC 22, was produced by a team from Die Deutsche Bibliothek in Frankfurt headed by Magda Heiner-Freiling, and published by K. G. Saur of Munich in four brightly-colored volumes in October 2005. (We first reported on the ddc.deutsch translation project earlier in the year.) DDC-DACHS: Die Dewey-Dezimalklassifikation und der deutschsprachige Raum is a traveling exhibition of DDC-related material that has been organized by Margit Sandner of the University of Vienna Library to accompany ddc.deutsch and to promote the new publication. (The letters making up "DACHS" indicate the German-speaking regions in which the Dewey-Dezimalkassifikation is used: D = Deutschland; A = Österreich; CH = Schweiz; and S = Südtirol.) The exhibition debuted at the University of Vienna Library in February 2005, has since visited Graz, Innsbruck, Bolzano, and Klagenfurt, and is currently showing (until December 16, 2005) at the Danube University Library in Krems, Austria. In the New Year, it will go to Linz.

Ddcdeutsch2Ddcdeutsch3The photos show a copy of the new translation next to a copy of Melvil Dewey's first edition of 1876; a view of part of the traveling exhibit; and the copy of Edition 8 from 1913 that was used by the former librarian of Vienna's British Council Library.

Posted by at 12:17 PM in DDC in arts and culture, DDC translations | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

05 December 2005

New and changed entries: December 2005

On the first day of each month, we post on OCLC's Dewey web site (here) a list of entries that have recently been changed or added to DDC 22 and Abridged Edition 14. This month's list of "New and changed entries" (posted on December 1) is devoted to the updates that we have just made to Table 3C. Additional Notation for Arts and Literature, specifically in T3C—3 Arts and literature dealing with specific themes and subjects. The numbers in T3C—3 are those that may be added to express the themes and subjects of the artistic and literary works discussed in the works being cataloged: a work about the ways in which education has been represented in dramatic films, for instance, would be classed at 791.436557, where 791.436 is the base number for works about Films dealing with specific themes and subjects, and 557 is notation added from T3C—3557 Education as a result of the instruction at 791.4362–.4369 to "Add to base number 791.436 the numbers following —3 in notation 32–39 from Table 3C ..." (Documentary films about a specific theme or subject are classed with the subject, e.g., education 370.) Two of the main updates that we have made to T3C—3 are to move —352 Specific kinds of persons from the last entry to the second entry in the table of preference under T3C—35 Humanity -- so that it is clear that a work on the theme of women, for example, is to be classed with Specific kinds of persons at —3522 rather than with Sociology and anthropology at —3552 -- and to provide for works on themes to do with language (at T3C—34) and computer science and information (at T3C—39).

Posted by at 02:47 PM in 700-799 Arts & recreation, DDC editorial projects, DDC tables | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

02 December 2005

Dewey Teaser: The end?

Not sure if anyone will remember, but two weeks ago we had a Dewey Teaser, and a fine one it was too. Both of our brave respondents were correct, of course, in their identification of The Librarian: Quest for the Spear as the source of that exchange between Charlene (played by Jane Curtin) and Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle). This TV movie's premiere on TNT in the US on December 5, 2004, surely takes its place in history as the first occasion on which the phrase "RSS feed" was spoken by a character in a prime-time drama, and maybe the first occasion on which the phrase "research paper orthodoxy" was spoken by anyone anywhere. Anyway, this week, the Dewey blog needs your help. Notwithstanding our earlier claims to have at our disposal an enormous pile of illuminating and/or entertaining DDC-related quotations from the classics of world literature, the sad and humbling truth is that in actual fact we, uh, don't. So -- what have we missed? Please, please, send in your suggestions, directly to the editor rather than to the blog if you'd like to see them used as future teasers. (Oh, and before anyone says "Hey, what about The Dewey decimal system of love?," well, we figured we'd sort of done that one here. And various TV shows here. And a comic book here and a comic strip there. Plus the timeless works that featured excitingly in our six previous teasers.)

Posted by at 10:07 AM in DDC in arts and culture | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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