Dewey Decimal System?
I was watching the Camp Logos 2 DVDs last night (which are very good by the way). In it, Morris clicks on "Subjects" in his library, and it is clear there are subjects that are Dewey Decimal Numbers. I recalled seeing them, in fact I used one or two in my Collections definitions. But I checked the current Logos software (I think he recorded this seminar of Camp 2 in June), and there do not appear to be any Dewey Decimals any more. When did they go away?
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It may be a good thing that they are gone for several reasons.
- Not every Logos resource had a Dewey number.
- The system is rather subject to change. The people who control the system add new classifications, delete classifications and reassign classifications. If one uses the Dewey numbers printed in the CIP information in an older book there is fair chance that it has changed.
- One often wonders why a book was assigned a particular Dewey number. How a book should be classified is really a matter of personal opinion. By the way how do you deal with sets where each book should probably have a different classification. Do you break up the set?
- Many books have not been assigned a Dewey number so you have to give it one yourself. That means learning how to do it, which is usually means several masters level courses in Library Science.
I tried to use the Dewey System for my personal paper book library of about 2000 volumes. It was a mess. So I quite.
Tagging each book in your library may take time. But if you are reasonably consistent with it, it is not hard. You can tag (classify) a resource in several different ways.You learn your library. Etc.
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Frank, you are doing Dewey wrong if you think you need master level classes to do it.
The beauty of the Dewey system is that it can be as detailed and complex or as simple as you need it to be.
This picture here shows what I mean
A book like this could be classified as "338.4767721094276" if you wanted to go as detailed as possible. For most libraries, a simple 338.4 or 338.47 would be sufficient.
The system is subject to change, and that's a good reason to use it. Why? Because you change it to how you want it. How a book is classified is a matter of personal opinion - you may think a book fits best in 230 (theology), but maybe I think it fits better under 248.4 (Christian Living). So you put it under 230 in your library, and I'll put it under 248.4 in mine. That's the beauty of dewey. There's no one right way to classify a book. If you are a huge library with hundreds of thousands of books, then you'll probably get real detailed (and probably would have taken master level classes in Library Science). But if you are just the average book nut like me, with "only" (ha) 2000 books, most on religious topics, then you don't need to go nearly as detailed.
What about commentary sets? Easy! Whatever works best for you. You want to keep the set as a whole? Then put it as 220. Want to split it up into OT/NT? Put the OT as 221 and the NT as 225. Want to put each volume in separetely? Then put the one on Genesis at 224.1 for Genesis, the one for Matthew as 226.1 for Matthew, and so on.
I sorted my paper library by Dewey. Works great, and was relatively easy to do. If they had a # on them, I used that. If I thought they'd fit better elsewhere, then I used that instead. If they didn't have a # and I wasn't sure where to put it, I could almost always look it up online at another library and see where they put it. If they didn't have it, I gave it my best guess of where I thought it would fit.
I would love it if Logos would allow this. Have a library sorting feature where I am able to type in whatever # I want to give it.
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Donnie said:
I would love it if Logos would allow this. Have a library sorting feature where I am able to type in whatever # I want to give it.
You can easily use the mytag field to do so.
I understood the original question and Frank's reply to refer to the 'official' numbers printed in some books, and to Faithlife delivering those as a metadata field (much like the 'official' subjects). This would in effect force the classification on us for those books that come with it.
Have joy in the Lord!
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Good day, would you help me or guide me how to use the dewey decimal system to manage the complete bible. Every topic, subject, idea, doctrine, sayings, quotations. Yes, I want to manage the complete bible, using the dewey system. I cannot believe no one seems to have done this. Sorry, I am completely new to the dewey system.
Please guide me to find possible divisions, classifications, category list, held in the world so that I can pop them into database and work from there.
Thank you. Deon
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I recommend you use Roget's classifications instead of the Dewey decimal system. The resource, Collins Thesaurus of the Bible, is an indication of how powerful this can be. If you insist on the Dewey system, I'm sure there is a guide somewhere on how to convert from Roget to Dewey.
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