[Koha] Re: DDC and LC classification

[Stephen Hedges]

For starters, here's a good place to learn how Dewey Decimal Classification 
(DDC) works:

http://www.oclc.org/oclc/fp/about/about_the_ddc.htm

If you look at this URL and the ones Rob sent, it looks like DDC always fits on 
one line, while LC can run to as many as five lines.  That's true in a 
theoretical world.  In the real world, libraries muck around and add other 
stuff, to help the people who have to stick the books back on the shelves.

Here's an example.  The copy of The Chicago Manual of Style I have beside me 
has the Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) data printed 
inside the fly leaf.  It says that the "official" classifications are as 
follows:

LC would be -
 Z253
 U69
 1993

DDC would be -
 808  or 808.027  or 808.0270973 if I'm really picky.

Looks like 3 lines for LC and 1 line for DDC.

But in practice, it's hard for humans to keep a long string of numbers straight 
and in order when re-shelving books, so most libraries that use DDC do what my 
library does -- add an extra line with the first two letters of the title or 
the author's name under a _short_ Dewey number.  So the spine label on this 
particular book reads:
 808
 Ch
instead of
 808.0270973

Now it gets really fun!  Many libraries also add stuff _before_ the Dewey 
number, like AB for audiobooks or YA for young adult or J for juvenile or 
junior.  (LC libraries sometimes do this, too.)  Yeah, they're really 
categories and shouldn't be part of the call number.  But again, they help 
humans find, retrieve, and replace stuff on library shelves.  Practice 
supercedes theory once again!

But to get to the point, five lines should be quite enough for most purposes, 
for either LC or DDC.  I'm sure someone will disagree, but any library that 
thinks it has to have six lines probably needs some discipline!

Stephen Hedges
(Nelsonville Public Library)

> I've been working on SQL phrasebooks to enable 
> multiple backend DB support.  I would be happy to 
> help with changing these fields around.  
> 
> Since my knowledge of library science is pretty 
> much limited to what I've learned off of this 
> list, could someone step up to the plate to do 
> some research on the type and number of fields 
> needed?
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Chris Cormack <chris at katipo.co.nz>
> Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 1:29 pm
> Subject: Re: [Koha] More questions - another 2 
> cents worth
> 
> > I think there may be some confusion between a 
> lccn number (library of
> > congress control number) and library of 
> congress call numbers. If I
> > understand correctly, a lccn number is single 
> unique number used 
> > to identify
> > a specific title, kind of like a serial number. 
> However, 
> > (librarians, please
> > correct me if I'm wrong) lccn numbers are not 
> used for cataloging and
> > shelving books in a library that used the LC 
> system. Instead there 
> > are a
> > series of four or five lines of call numbers 
> that are used instead.
> > 
> > Rather than try to explain it, let me refer you 
> to
> > 
> http://www.lib.ksu.edu/instructional/understanding
> lccn/webcall2.html or
> > 
> http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/education/hcc/library/ca
> llno.html for some
> > explanation and samples of LC call numbers.
> > 
> > The problem is that koha doesn't currently have 
> adequate fields of the
> > proper type for storing these four or five 
> lines of information in the
> > database (I think there are such fields in the 
> MARC tables, but 
> > not in the
> > basic koha tables). I agree that accommodating 
> the different 
> > catalogingsystems is a template issue, but feel 
> that the necessary 
> > fields need to be
> > in place in the database tables first. I had 
> actually emailed the
> > development list on this same issue a couple 
> weeks ago (subject: 
> > inflexiblefield types for call numbers).
> > 
> > My recommendation would be that we survey as 
> many knowledgeable 
> > librariansas possible to find out how many 
> fields are necessary 
> > for storing call
> > numbers under the various systems, what the 
> maximum length of each 
> > needs to
> > be, and then add those fields to the database 
> tables (unless the 
> > programmerscould suggest existing fields that 
> can be used). I 
> > think if there were four
> > or five flexible fields for storing call number 
> information, then 
> > indeedkoha could be adapted to almost any 
> cataloging system by 
> > reworking the
> > templates.
> > 
> > Rob
> > 
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Chris Cormack" <chris at katipo.co.nz>
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 1:20 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Koha] More questions - another 2 
> cents worth
> > 
> > 
> > > We do have an lccn field in the koha 
> database. And you can load 
> > data into
> > > it, its currently not displaying or 
> searchable yet though. This 
> > is a
> > > templating issue, im sure we could change it 
> quite fast.
> > 
> > 
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> > Koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
> > 
> http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
> > 
> 
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