BLIS First Test Blog

From Broad Strokes to Fine Lines: How DDC 23 Elevates Book Classification   ( By Moumita Chowdhury) Overview The DDC scheme was devised in 1873 by Melvil Dewey (1851-1931) who was the Assistant College Librarian in Amherst College, New York, and was aged only twenty-two years. The scheme was prepared for the Amherst College Library, and was published anonymously in 1876. Dewey (full name Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey) is famous not only as the father of modern library classification, but also as the father of the library movement in the USA.  The first edition of DDC, published anonymously in 1876, was entitled A Classification and Subject Index, for Cataloguing and Arranging Books and Pamphlets of a Library. It was a slim volume of 42 pages, comprising 12 pages of introduce tory matter, 12 pages of schedules and 18 pages of index. The schedules enumerated 1000 subjects . The index contained 2600 entries.  Subsequent editions have been the pr...

Modernizing the Bookshelves By Sayak Biswas A Qualitative Examination of User Perceptions and Classification Experiences in DDC 22nd and 23rd Editions Overview   Melvin Dewey, sometimes known as the Father of Modern Library Classification, a visionary American librarian, forever changed the way libraries organize their collections with the invention of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) in 1876.  The DDC system assigns a unique numerical code to each subject, making it easy to shelve and locate books within a library. Dewey's system, based on a decimal system, was groundbreaking in its simplicity and flexibility. It allowed libraries of all sizes to organize their collections efficiently and effectively, regardless of their specific needs or focus. Dewey drew inspiration from Bacon's system of dividing knowledge into three main branches: philosophy, history, and poetry. He also studied and improved upon existing library classification systems, such as those developed by Wi...