Table of Contents:

Chapter One: The Dewey Decimal System

Chapter Two: Study Guide for Genealogists

Chapter Three: The Call Number

Chapter Four: The new Dewey application

Chapter One

The Dewey Decimal system does not fit genealogical research. Mr. Dewey must not have been a genealogist. He didn't code his book keeping inventory system based on a genealogist's needs but on a book keeper's or librarian's needs. It is similar to the difference between a book-keeper and an investor. The book-keeper tells you where the money is, the financial advisor tells you where to put it. A book keeper or librarian tells you where the book is, not how you should be interpreting it.

I remember when I went to the Chicago Historical Library because my mother's family had settled there back in 1860. When I told the librarian my purpose, he tried to send me to the Newberry Genealogical Library. No, I wanted Chicago sources. When I told him I wanted to look at a Chicago Fire Department Report that dated earlier than 1871, I had looked at it before, he told me everything had been burned in the Chicago Fire of 1871. Yes everything in Chicago burned, but not everything about Chicago burned if it was located outside of Chicago at the time of the fire. Finally I just asked the page. He knew.

Genealogy is a special skilled researching hobby that is foreign to the average librarian and many historians. The librarian must be able to work in any and all departments. They aren't paid for or interested in genealogy that you should know how to do yourself so you need to learn how to use what they know. And they know the Dewey Decimal system. They went to school to learn it, the WHOLE system. But relax, you only need to learn a little.

Ironically, the genealogist needs to know his family's location, location, location. The librarian needs to know the book's location. But the book's location is not necessarily on the shelf based on where your family lived. It's not even based on where Mr. Dewey lived.

Dewey based his system on three identifiers: Title Author Subject

He did not base it on location. He did not base it on Kent County. The cemeteries of Kent County are shelved together. All histories of Kent County are shelved together. But cemeteries and histories of Kent County are on different shelves. The cemeteries in Kent County and the histories of Kent County are not shelved together as they are different Subjects. A genealogist is interested in all information available about, in, around, near, within Kent County and is frustrated when they are not all shelved together. A genealogist doesn't care about subject, he cares about place first and then all the people who passed through that place during a certain time.

I originally wrote this essay about 15 years ago and have just re-entered the arena only to discover the proliferation of indexes. And that is the beauty of Dewey. It is flexible. But the old books remain on the shelf, numbered the old way. The new books are numbered the new way. Confusion. So a call number is not permanent to a particular book over the years and it is not identical in every library. But we non-librarians don't need to know cumbersome technicalities.

I have tried to break down the theory, so you can understand the overall numbering system but you need to understand there are many exceptions.

The 929 starting portion of the call number means genealogy. In my day the only books under 929 were how-to books, heraldry, royalty. Common man wasn't included. And that has changed. Now common man has risen and taken over 929 causing the retirement of some of the old numbers and the creation of new. I used to just ignore 929 and concentrated on other subjects that contained, non-indexed, information relative to a family or place.

So compilations useful to a genealogist were shelved by subject, any subject other than genealogy, and then by geographic location but not in alphabetical order but by region. Cemeteries were shelved in one place. Census records in another. Dewey just didn't seem to work. A genealogist had to run all over to find information. The meat was in other subject areas. If you wanted any information on someone who lived in Kent County, you had to look in the Social Sciences or History sections thus making history's and geography's connection to genealogy very apparent. .

Chapter Two

Prepared for a lecture given on February 14, 1981

by Barbara Vander Mark, Chairman, Library Services Committee

and Martha Seaman, Head of Technical Services, Grand Rapids Public Library

Mr. Melvil Dewey dreamed up this numbering system in 1876. He arranged all human knowledge into 10 categories with many subdivisions according to his nineteenth century American egocentric view of the world. Prior to this, books were described by physical location (a certain shelf on a certain wall). Unfortunately, it caused problems as library collections grew and changes were made in the buildings. Dewey's numbering system allowed each library to adapt his system for its own use. Therefore, the same book will have a different call number in different libraries.

By using classification numbers, books with similar treatments of the same subject should be shelved together. The books are first divided by broad disciplines, and then sub-divided again and again into more specialized treatments of a subject.

To the non-librarian, alll books on one subject are NOT classified together. For instance, if the subject is children, all books about children are NOT shelved together. Instead books about art for children are classified under Art, ethics on raising children are classified under Ethics, etiquette for children under Etiquette, hygiene for children under Hygiene, psychology of children under Psychology, etc.

000-099 General Works - Encyclopedias

           091 Manuscripts

100-199 Philosophy - Logic, Ethics

200-299 Religion - Church, Theology

300-399 Social Sciences - Law, Banking, Folklore

400-499 Linguistics - Grammar, Dictionaries

500-599 Pure Science - Math, Astronomy

600-699 Technology - Medicine, Pets, Food

700-799 Arts & Recreation - Drawing, Dancing, Sports

800-899 Literature - Poetry, Drama

Subdivision of History

900-909 History

910-919 Geography

930-939 Ancient World

940-949 Modern Europe

950-959 Modern Asia

960-969 Modern Africa

970-979 North America (includes Alaska to Panama in Central America)

980-989 South America (includes Columbia in Central America and points South)

990-999 other areas 

                     994 Australia

                     996 Polynesia

                                   996.9 Hawaii

                     998 Artic and Antarctic

999 Extraterrestrial

920 Biography

921 Biographies of Philosophers

922 Biographies of Clergy

923 Biographies of Public Figures

924 Biographies of Grammarians

925 Biographies of Scientists

926 Biographies of Inventors

927 Biographies of Artists

928 Biographies of Poets

Subdivision of Genealogy   (new expansion and change-of-direction see New Dewey)

929 Genealogy

        929.1 Genealogy (General How-to)

        929.2 Family Histories (compilations of individual families)

929.3 SOURCES (Tax lists, etc.)

929.4 Personal Names (first names)

929.5 Epitaphs (tombstone readings for literary value)

929.6 Heraldry  (Heraldry, Peerage and Coats of Arms identified feudal society)

929.1 Peerage

929.8 Coats of Arms

929.9 Flags (Flags identified feudal society before the advent of modern countries)

Subdivision of Sources (by region)

929.31 Places in general

929.32 Persons in general

929.33 Ancient World

929.34 Europe

929.35 Asia

929.36 Africa

929.38 South America

929.39 Pacific Islands

Subdivision of North America (by region)

929.371 Canada

929.372 Mexico

929.373 United States

929.374 US Northeastern

929.375 US Southeastern

929.376 US South Central

929.378 US Western

929.379 Pacific Coast

929.3771 Ohio

929.3772 Indiana

929.3773 Illinois

929.3775 Wisconsin

929.3776 Minnesota

929.3777 Iowa

929.3778 Missouri

Subdivision of Michigan (by region)

929.37741 Southwest Counties

929.37742 South Central Counties

929.37743 Southeast Counties

929.37744 Southeast Central Counties

929.37746 Northwest Central Counties

929.37747 Northeast Central Counties

929.37748 Northern Counties

929.37749 Upper Peninsula Counties

929.377451 Isabella County

929.377452 Mecosta County

929.377453 Montcalm County

929.377454 Ionia County

929.377455 Kent County

929.377457 Muskegon

929.377458 Newaygo

929.377459 Oceana

All books of tax lists for Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan should be classified as 929.377456

But the whole Call Number will be different.

280 Church Histories

312 Census

325 Migrations, Immigrations, Emigrations

910 Place Names

912 Atlases

940 WWI and WWII

973 History of the United States (Civil War)

974-979 State and County Histories

R929.4328

H34a

V.3

c.2

1976

Does this look like gibberish to you? Greek maybe? This number, referred to as a Call Number, can mean the difference between finding the information you seek or being stuck on yet another Dead End. Those call numbers, actually have a simple meaning. They are a code. You have to write down the whole number. Just like the old telephone exchanges meant something. Cherry was the exchange in the southeastern portion of the city. Glendale was the central city. Empire the northeast. The first few numbers told you where the person lived, but you still had to dial the whole number. You couldn't just drop off the last five numbers. Just dialing the exchange didn't get you the person you wanted. And just knowing the Dewey Classification numbers won't get you the specific book either.

Explanation:

R Reference, book cannot be checked out.

929.4328 Dewey Classification Number

H34a Cutter Number

V.3 Volume number for a book that is part of a set

c. 2 Copy number, if the library owns more than one copy

1976 Date of publication

Books are arranged on the shelf in numeric order.

929.12 is shelved before 929.3. It is read 12/100 before 30/100 NOT 3 before 12.

Cutter Number - The first letter represents the first letter of the author's name. The numbers represent the rest of the author's name and are chosen according to a special code. The last letter represents the first letter in the title. The Cutter number is arranged in Alphabetical Order, and then in number order. The number is a decimal.

A42 is shelved before B3 or A before B

H372 is shelved before H38 or 372/1000 before 380/1000

H382 is shelved before H40 or 382/1000 before 400/1000

R42a is shelved before R42b or a before b.

The longer the number, the more specific the topic should be. Cataloging used to be done by hand, by different people, over many years. It's changed somewhat from the time I originally wrote this article. So I have tried to include the "new" way here but the old books have not been recatalogued according to the new way and these old books are still on the shelf the old way. It won't be perfect but it will at least get you to the right ball field just not a home run. You have to hold the bat and swing, probably at more than one pitch.

As The Dewey Decimal system was developed in 1876 there are items that obviously appear bias by today's standard created by easier and faster world travel and CNN. It is definitely pro-Eastern United States in view. Just think old. You're a genealogist. You can do that.

The beauty or curse of Dewey is that it is flexible. The overall interpretation can be altered over time. Each individual cataloger at each library can mold Dewey into a local variation. So not only will the same book have different numbers at different libraries, the same category of books may be numbered differently by a succession of different catalogers in the same library. So it is not possible to just browse the shelves. Which is what I would like to do.

Those call numbers, that mish-mach of gibberish actually have a simple meaning.

They are a code. I loved to write and decipher in code when I was a kid. Your kids love it too. They probably even know how to set a VCR! Example: Subject is Ottawa County Deaths.

The same book in three different libraries has three different call numbers:

GRPL 929.377415         Herrick Library 977.415         Loutit Library: 929.51

The librarian will tell you to check the card catalogue either in card format or on a computer screen. But either format will give you the same Subject, Author, Title  not place.

Don't get frustrated and hit the librarian or walk out in disgust or be afraid to go in by avoiding it either with the internet. The internet is just an uncatalogued and unregulated library. Google is just based on "words", not subject, title, author or even place. Just words. For hints of how to search better on google see http://www.tedpack.org/googleua.html
 

Then there are evolving cataloging rules which often are applied only to the new books coming along, not
to the ones already on the shelf. The old subdivisions were set up for prominent families as they were the only ones who had the education, time and money to have the means. Now there are new interpretations based on common man - us.

929 Genealogy The New Common Way

Now 929 includes indexes prepared by genealogy societies to sources in non-genealogy-subject headings as genealogy is secondary to the main purpose of the publication. But the original publication will be shelved under the subject heading and NOT with the index. And the index is only the BEGINNING. An index is NOT genealogy anymore than a road sign is the road.

929.1 Genealogy

    929.107 2 How-to

    929.109 4 By specific localities in the modern world

929.2 Family Histories

929.3 Genealogical sources

    929.33-39 Specific locations

                    Michigan 929.3774
                    Kent County 929.377455

929.4 Personal Names

    929.42 Surnames

    929.44 Forenames names for babies

929.5 Cemetery Records (who's buried there)

929.6 Heraldry

929.7 Royal Houses

929.8 Orders

929.9 Insignia

    929.92 Flags

From Heading  Genealogy and the City of Grand Rapids

From web site:  MyCityofGrandRapids.info Home