Dewey Decimal Classification Numbers Research Articles

Multilingual Thesaurus and Interoperability

This paper briefly describes a pilot project to design and develop a multilingual- English and eight other languages of India – thesaurus for ‘Education’. The thesaurus is derived from the bilingual (English-Kannada) Colon Classification (CC), (Ed. 7 revised). The CC number and Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) number are metadata in the thesaurus structure. The thesaurus for each language is separately built using Greenstone Digital Library software. The descriptors are hyperlinked. Descriptor terms, terms in the Scope Note (text), CC and DDC numbers are indexed. Two or more of the thesauri can be searched simultanseously. The advantages of using class number in the search and retrieval are mentioned. Other issues discussed include interoperability as key to effective interlinking among knowledge organising tools (KOTs) and in integrating two or more KOTs, and issues and problems in building multilingual thesaurus (thesauri) with particular reference to the cultural frames and languages of India. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/djlit.33.4883

Obtaining the Dewey Decimal Classification Number from other databases: a catalog clean-up project

The increasing availability of online catalogs and bibliographical databases allows not only for copy cataloging, but also for the retrieval of atomic information useful within the catalog. To this end, Dewey decimal numbers were imported from national and international sources by means of the unique identifier ISBN. Technical specifications have been developed to locate the records to be retrieved, to query external databases, to extract the Dewey decimal classification numbers and add them to the catalog. The exceptionally large amount of Dewey numbers added to the catalog has improved the semantic usability of the OPAC. The procedure established has also facilitated the collection of information on the use of the Dewey Decimal System in the various databases used and allowed to make certain comparisons between them. The tools employed can be used analogously for data-retrieval operations in the catalog, as an aid in the cataloging process, or to improve the OPAC in either a static or dynamic manner. Taking into account its virtually exclusive practical purpose, this work is characterized by practical rather than theoretical choices. However, the experience acquired opens up areas even in the field of academic research.

Racially Mixed People, DDC Table 5 Ethnic and National Groups, and MARC 21 Bibliographic Format Field 083

This article explores ways that notation in Table 5 Ethnic and National Groups of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system can be used to extend subject access to works about racially mixed people beyond that provided by the rules for constructing standard DDC numbers. The proposed approach makes use of the new 083 field (Additional Dewey Decimal Classification Number) in the MARC Bibliographic Format and techniques developed for DeweyBrowser beta v2.0 by OCLC Research, especially tag clouds.

The Power to Name : A Review Essay

The Power to Name: Locating the Limits of Subject Representation in Libraries. By Hope A. Olson. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002. x, 261 pp. $103.00. ISBN 1-4020-0776-0. This work by Hope A. Olson is a much-pruned and rewritten version of her 1996 dissertation at the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. 1 Its original version is mentioned because in it she explains more fully the character of the radical feminist deconstructionist approach she brings to her task. However, the muted explanation of her perspective in the present volume does not ultimately alter the character of the work, which is both a polemic against what she concludes are male-dominated subject access tools and an apologia for a feminist understanding or approach to the tools. The central objective of The Power to Name is convincingly to characterize bias in classification and subject heading work, that is, to show that bias thoroughly marginalizes and sometimes excludes women and women minorities altogether. In the process of satisfying this objective the author also provides an etiology for the bias. Thus, the work essentially accomplishes two tasks, each of which will be examined here. Of the first of these two tasks, Olson states that her own analysis of Dewey Decimal Classification numbers and Library of Congress subject headings for eleven sample books “combines a feminist perspective with attention to particular groups of women identifying with one or more of the following: women of colour, African American women, Chicanas, lesbians, Asian American women, working class women, Jewish women, [and] North American Aboriginal women” (184). More specifically, she states that “the literature on cataloguing feminist material and materials for women illustrates that the existing standards include sexist terminology and put topics in uncongenial contexts with a sexist result. That is, they juxtapose them in classifications and references in such a way as to create a pejorative effect. . . . [T]hey treat women as exceptions to a masculine norm, they ghettoize women’s issues by separating them

Dewey 2000

Dewey Decimal Classification numbers organize resources using a hierarchical structure that is ideal for browsing by subject area. To enhance the usefulness of DDC as an online tool, OCLC conducts research in these areas: developing customizable views of the DDC, enhancing links to other thesauri, improving links to other editions, transforming the captions into end-user language, and decomposing numbers and using the parts for improved access. This paper discusses these research areas.

The Frequency of Use of Library of Congress Classification Numbers and Dewey Decimal Classification Numbers in the MARC File in the Field of Library Science

The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) and Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) systems were devised and updated by librarians who had and have no access to the eventual frequency of use of each number in those classification systems. Eighty percent of the monographs in a MARC file of over 1,000,000 records are classified Into 20% of the classification numbers in the field of libra science and only 20% of the monographs are classified into 80 % of the classification numbers in the f~eldo f library science. Classification of monographs could be made easier and performed more accurately if many of the little used and unused numbers were eliminated and many of the most crowded numbers were expanded. A number of examples are included.

The Best Seller as an Indicator of Societal Narcissism: Is There a Trend?

A content analysis of the subject matter of nonfiction best sellers was performed to assess changes in societal narcissism. A number of content categories were identified, a priori, as indicative of narcissism, conceptually defined in terms of self-absorption: e.g., concern for psychic self-improvement, mysticism, and an interest in health, physical fitness, diet, and sexuality. An unobtrusive measure, the Dewey Decimal Classification number, was used to sort best-selling titles into narcissistic and non-narcissistic groups for the years 1950 through 1979. As hypothesized, societal narcissism, as reflected in popular reading preferences, increased over the three-decade period. Lynn S. Mullins is Head Librarian at Marymount Manhattan College. Richard E. Kopelman is Professor of Management at Baruch College, The City University of New York. The authors are grateful to Mark Berenson and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive suggestions and advice. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society (Boston), March 1984. Public Opinion Quarterly Vol. 48:720-730 C) by the Trustees of Columbia University Published by Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc 0033-362X/84/0048-720/$2.50 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.183 on Thu, 26 May 2016 04:42:10 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms BEST SELLERS AND NARCISSISM: A TREND? 721 tion to the widespread preoccupation with the that is characteristic of the contemporary culture. Sennett (1977) details the shift from an otherdirected to an inner-directed condition as an integral part of a change in Western society, while Bell (1976) traces the new legitimization of the untrammeled self as an outgrowth of society's glorification of rampant individualism. Schur (1976) focuses on the self-awareness movement (meditation, biofeedback, assertiveness training, personal growth, and relating) as a false solution for social problems. Lasch (1978), a cultural historian, is perhaps the social critic most responsible for linking to societal changes. According to Lasch, the culture of narcissism is manifested by the excessive search for meaning within one's self, the obsession with individual lifestyle, and the individual's estrangement from the cultural environment. Moreover, the outgrowths of selfabsorption, in Lasch's view, are shallow, transitory interpersonal relationships, a fascination with mystical cults and celebrities, an intense fear of old age and death, and the devaluation of the past. For the political scientists Morgenthau and Person (1978), the exaltation of the sense of that constitutes contemporary is reflected in the retreat from an insistence on political freedom to an interest in personal

Computer‐aided selection in a library network

AbstractA new selection policy has recently been implemented by the Bell Laboratories Library Network. It is based on selection profiles for each of the member libraries. These profiles, which detail the subjects in which books and other materials will be collected, are prepared with the advice of users and supported by several existing computer‐aided systems. Interests are represented both by Dewey Decimal Classification numbers and subject descriptors. The profiles provide a formal means by which management can bring available resources directly to bear on user needs.