The Dewey Decimal Classification System

So…what IS the Dewey Decimal System??

Question: What is a call number and where do you find one?

•The Dewey Decimal System is a system of call numbers

used to ORGANIZE non-fiction books in the library.  

A Call Number is…

…a group of numbers and/or letters put together to tell you where in the library to find your book.

A call number is located at the bottom of the book on the spine.

Call numbers are in numerical order.  For example: 590, 591, 592

But how does this help you find your book?

There are lots of subjects books can be about.

Some subjects have nothing in common—like wolves and cookbooks.

Others are very similar—like flowers and trees. Dewey grouped all the similar

subjects together. He settled on ten big groups of subjects. Then he assigned a number to those big subjects. This first basic classification looks like this:

000 Generalities (Reference)

100 Philosophy & Psychology

200 Religion & Mythology

300 Social Sciences & Folklore

400 Languages

500 Science & Math

600 Technology (applied science)

700 Arts & Recreation

800 Literature

900 Geography & History

Dewey’s 10 Main Categories:

Here is an example of the breakdown in the 500 section:

500 Natural Sciences & Math510 Math

520 Astronomy

530 Physics

540 Chemistry

550 Earth sciences

560 Paleontology

570 Life sciences

580 Plants

590 Animals

900 Geography and History

970 General history of North America

976 General history of North America: South Central United States

976.8 Tennessee

976.873 Anderson County

Categories go from “broader” to “more specific”

Sometimes it can be confusing to figure out how Dewey Decimal Numbers work on the library

shelves.

HINT: THINK MONEY!!!! AS IN DOLLARS AND CENTS!!!

If you aren’t sure whether 919.65 is shelved before or after 919.57, THINK MONEY. Which is larger, $919.65, or $919.57?

Smaller Bigger

So on the shelf, these two books will look like this:

919.57 919.65

($919.57)

($919.65)

Choose the correct order the books should be on the library shelf:

A. B. C.

398

522.1

199

389.6

119

532

552.2

399.2

206.9

398389.6399.2

522.1532552.2

199119206.9

Wait!

There are also letters on the spine labels along with the

numbers. WHY?

Subject/Author:

Sometimes you don’t want just ANY book about dinosaurs, you want the ones by Don Lessem.

So printed just below the Dewey number on the spine of the book there are three letters:

*First 3 letters of the author’s last name.*

The Dewey Number + the three letters

= the “call number.”

This is the address for the book!

567.9LES

Here is one reason:

567.9LES

The SUBJECT

The AUTHOR

This is the easy way to look at the book’s address:

FICTION

works the same way:

At LCMS, we use FIC to designate Fiction.

On the spine you’ll see: 1. FIC on the top line 2. The first three letters of

the author’s last name below.

A novel by Walter Dean Myers has the “call number” FIC MYE.

FICMYE

But wait, there is more…

BIOGRAPHIES

are DIFFERENT!

At LCMS, the Dewey Number for BIOGRAPHY is 921.

The three letters below the 921 are the first three letters of the

SUBJECT’s last name, not the author’s.

So all the books about Benjamin Franklin have the same call number: 921 FRA.

921FRA

Yes, there is still more….

Finally, always remember: IF YOU NEED HELP FINDING

WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR IN THE LIBRARY, ASK THE LIBRARIAN!