How Do You Use The Dewey Decimal System?
Invented by Melvin Dewey in 1876 to unify library organization, the Dewey Decimal System is now the most-used classification system in the world. A revolution in library science, it makes finding books in vast library collections a simple and easy process. Learning to use the Dewey Decimal system isn’t difficult. Just follow these simple steps to understand how the system works. Learn the lingo. The Dewey Decimal system organizes books into 10 main classes by category, which together covers the entire range of knowledge. The system utilizes a series of symbols called “notations” to represent the classifications. Each of the 10 main classes is divided into 10 “divisions” and each division into 10 “sections,” though not all numbers in the divisions and sections are used by each classification. A book’s Dewey Decimal number is termed its “call number.” Understand the numbers. The notations in the system are used to represent each specific breakdown in classification. For example, 533 repr
