| Most books in the Learning Resources Center are arranged
by the Dewey Decimal classification system. The system, designed by Melvil Dewey in 1873,
is used throughout the world in various types of libraries and in several languages. The Dewey system consists of three basic groupings organized by
disciplines or fields of study. In the first group, or summary there are ten main classes.
In the second summary there are 100 divisions. The third summary consists of 1,000
sections. The Dewey decimal number you see on a book has been generated using the three
summaries. Each digit in the number refers to a part of the three summaries. The first
digit refers to one of the ten main classes, the second digit refers to one of the 100
divisions, and the third digit refers to one of the 1,000 sections.
The Dewey number used to identify a book describes what the
book is about. For example, if a book has the number 975, we know it is
about the history of the southeastern United States. We know this because all books in
900's deal with Geography and History. Books in the 970's deal with the general history of
North America, and books in the 975's deal with the southeastern United States.
| 900 - Geography and History |
| 970 - General History of North America |
| 975 - Southeastern United States |
Dewey's Ten Main
Classes
000 Generalities
100 Philosophy & psychology
200 Religion
300 Social sciences
400 Language
500 Natural sciences & mathematics
600 Technology (Applied sciences)
700 The arts Fine and decorative arts
800 Literature & rhetoric
900 Geography & history
|
