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Page 27
Take up first, in classification proper, the subjects of history and
travel, which will be found comparatively easy.
It is easier to classify 25 or 50 books at a time in any given class
than it is to classify them singly as you come to them in the midst
of books of other classes. Consequently, group your books roughly into
classes before you begin work on them.
As soon as a book is classified enter it at once in your
shelf-list--explained in a later chapter--and see that an author-card
for it is put in the author catalog--explained later--with its proper
number thereon.
If, after you have made up your mind, from an examination of the
title-page, or table of contents, or a few pages here and there, what
subject a book treats of in the main, you are still in doubt in what
class to place it, consider what kind of readers will be likely to ask
for it, and in what class they will be likely to look for it, and put
it into that class. In doubtful cases the catalogs of other libraries
are often good guides.
Keep your classification as consistent as possible. Before putting a
book, about which there is any opportunity for choice, in the class
you have selected for it, examine your shelf-list and see that the
books already there are of like nature with it.
Classify as well as you can, and don't worry if you find you have made
errors. There are always errors. Don't get into the habit of changing.
Be consistent in classifying, and stick by what you have done.
CHAPTER XXI
The Dewey or Decimal system of classification
[From the Introduction to the Decimal classification and Relative
index. Published by the Library Bureau, $5.]
The field of knowledge is divided into nine main classes, and these
are numbered by the digits 1 to 9. Cyclopedias, periodicals, etc.,
so general in character as to belong to no one of these classes,
are marked nought, and form a tenth class. Each class is similarly
separated into nine divisions, general works belonging to no division
having nought in place of the division number. Divisions are similarly
divided into nine sections, and the process is repeated as often
as necessary. Thus 512 means Class 5 (Natural science), Division 1
(Mathematics), Section 2 (Algebra), and every algebra is numbered 512.
The books on the shelves and the cards in the subject catalog are
arranged in simple numerical order, all class numbers being decimals.
Since each subject has a definite number, it follows that all books
on any subject must stand together. The tables show the order in which
subjects follow one another. Thus 512 Algebra precedes 513 Geometry,
and follows 511 Arithmetic.
In the book after the tables of the classes arranged in their
numerical order is an index, in which all the heads of the tables
are arranged in one simple alphabet, with the class number of each
referring to its exact place in the preceding tables. This index
includes also, as far as they have been found, all the synonyms or
alternative names for the heads, and many other entries that seem
likely to help a reader find readily the subject sought. Though the
user knows just where to turn to his subject in the tables, by first
consulting the index he may be sent to other allied subjects, where he
will find valuable matter which he would otherwise overlook.
The claims of the system may be summed up as follows: compared
with other systems it is less expensive; more easily understood,
remembered, and used; practical rather than theoretical; brief and
familiar in its nomenclature; best for arranging pamphlets, sale
duplicates, and notes, and for indexing; susceptible of partial
and gradual adoption without confusion; more convenient in keeping
statistics and checks for books off the shelves; the most satisfactory
adaptation of the card catalog principle to the shelves. It requires
less space to shelve the books; uses simpler symbols and fewer of
them; can be expanded, without limit and without confusion or waste of
labor, in both catalogs and on shelves, or in catalogs alone; checks
more thoroughly and conveniently against mistakes; admits more readily
numerous cross references; is unchangeable in its call-numbers, and so
gives them in all places where needed, as given in no other system;
in its index affords an answer to the greatest objection to class
catalogs, and is the first satisfactory union of the advantages of the
class and dictionary systems.
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