Tag: introduction

Photo by Susan Q Yin on Unsplash

History

This Organisational system was conceived by Melvil Dewey in 1873 and first published in 1876. It is one of the most widely used in the world.

Use

The DDC as it is shortened to, is used to organise books by subject. Each item is given a shelf mark identifier so it can be located easily. The main subject areas are:

000        Computer science, information, and general work

100        Philosophy and psychology

200        Religion

300        Social sciences

400        Language

500        Science

600        Technology

700        Art and recreation

800        Literature

900        History and geography

The first 3 digits are the main subject area.  The numbers after the point give a subsection. After the numbers there are 3 letters to represent the author or editor. For example 941.34  DAI This refers to a book on Edinburgh by David Daiches.  Books with the same DDC number are shelved first by their number, then in alphabetic order by author or Editor.

If you want a very fun (and most definitely silly) video on how to find a book, this YouTube video is perfect: