Question about library call numbers

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

We were out buying a thesaurus last night and found some to be organized by topic by library call number instead of alphabetical order. So that sparked a discussion with dh and I about not needing that anymore because of computer card catalogs (and I don't think any library has an actual card catalog anymore) and we are curious about this.

 

Do you know how to find topics based on library call number?

 

If not, did you when you were in school?

 

Do your children?

 

Poll to follow!

[Mama_Rana]

I like the topics to be sorta together the way you would find by call number. I might be looking for a book on crystals but because they are by other books of similar/related topics, I might find other books of interest. I don't have the DDS memorized, but there are a few topics I'm familiar enough with that I can often find what I need without looking on the computers [which are often occupied].

 

Of course, I'm biased having just organized my home library roughly by DDS numbers. :tongue_smilie:

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I have an edge...I had a job shelving books for our library so I know roughly what is represented by call numbers. When my children look for certain books I make a point to say that should be somewhere in the something hundreds and tens because those are where the blanks are found. Lately I see dd go to certain sections of the library when she is looking for certain type books but this is probably due to location not number...but one can hope. In a round about way I am teaching my kids what the numbers mean. I know for me it is helpful to know where certain type of books are without looking on the computer for it if I am looking for a general book on a topic, helps cut the time down when you are in the free parking space and you only have a few mins to search for a book.

 

My home library is also set up according to the DDS.

Edited March 9, 2012 by Down_the_Rabbit_Hole

[GailV]

I did somewhat in school just because I used the library nonfiction section so much.

 

And then I worked in libraries when I was in college and for several years afterwards, although it was in the university library so we used Library of Congress. I got really good at THOSE designations. And totally forgot the Dewey system.

 

Having worked in libraries and spent hours explaining library assignments to students, I can vouch that plenty of people find the entire call number concept weird, or confusing, or dumb, or clever, or a novel concept that they'd never heard of. Oh, the conversations we overheard as the students worked on their assignments!

[nukeswife]

I used to when I was a child, but that's because I was a library junkie when I was in school. I was the girl with the backpack heavier than her every Friday, Saturday and daily during summer vacation. I would check out a whole backpack of books and then return them (all read) by the next day to come home with yet another backpack full.

 

I've never taught my kids the DDS, but they do know how to use the computer catalog and then how to read the numbers on the shelves to find what they want (well the older two anyway) although they generally know the area to look in because our library puts decorative items on top of the shelves to give a hint of what to find in that area. IE: animals above the animal books, a few statues near the history stuff, microscope/fake plant etc by the science books.

[myfatherslily]

Yes, for the most part I could do it. I don't have the system memorized, but I can find my way around in any library.

 

ETA: I haven't taught my 2nd grader yet.

[boscopup]

I've never memorized the system, but I know how to find a book in the library, and I'm teaching my children that. Every library I've been in has a sign on the end of the shelving unit that says "nonfiction" or "juvenile fiction" or some other designation, and then it has the number range that is on that set of shelves. So if I'm looking for a particular book, I know where to go. Now as I've used the library more and more, I've learned where certain books are. For example, I am getting ready to start American History, so yesterday I looked at that topic on the shelf, since I'd seen it there before. I have no clue what numbers are American History, but I do know how to find American History in the library. I haven't had a need to memorize the system, since if I wasn't sure, I could look up the topic in the online card catalog, then go to the section that has those books. But even in larger libraries, I've never had any trouble finding what I needed, since the shelves are labeled so well.

[3peasinapod]

I don't officially know, but I know "about" where things are, animals, history, biographies, etc. There is a poster at our library that has the number system and which books are in which categories, but I have never bothered to learn. Just regular use of the library will lend itself to what goes where.

[regentrude]

I do not understand the question. If you mean "have you memorized the Dewey decimal system?" no, I have not, and see no need for it for me OR my kids.

Can we find a book in the library? Absolutely. We look up the book on the computer catalogue, write down the number, and are of course able to find the correct shelf and the correct book.

[Crimson Wife]

I don't officially know, but I know "about" where things are, animals, history, biographies, etc. There is a poster at our library that has the number system and which books are in which categories, but I have never bothered to learn. Just regular use of the library will lend itself to what goes where.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree: American history is the 970's by the way ;)

[Young Curmudgeon]

I may have known the Dewey Decimal system in K-12 school. I remember it being taught. And I know I could go browse the stacks for my areas of interest without looking up anything in a card catalog. But I do not remember if I just knew where stuff was located in the libraries I used or if I had a small set of relevant numbers memorized. (I did not have wide ranging interests.)

 

At university they only used Dewey Decimal for a small part of the Undergraduate Library. The rest of the Undergraduate Library and all the other libraries used Library of Congress numbers. The card catalog was all online. I did find an old style card catalogs still installed, with large signs on them saying they had not been updated from some date a few years earlier. A month later that was gone.

 

After university I stopped going to the library for quite awhile. (Amazon.com appreciated that.) Now with a family I'm back to using the local library. The extent of my knowledge of Dewey Decimal is that related items are close. Generally I'll look up a subject in the catalog to get close, not to find a specific book and then look in that general area of the stacks.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I do not understand the question. If you mean "have you memorized the Dewey decimal system?" no, I have not, and see no need for it for me OR my kids.

Can we find a book in the library? Absolutely. We look up the book on the computer catalogue, write down the number, and are of course able to find the correct shelf and the correct book.

 

 

 

Well, the guide "words" in the thesaurus we were looking at were dewey decimal numbers. Not words. So, I guess I am wondering how many people could use that to find the words in the thesaurus they wanted. I don't know. It seemed VERY odd to me because how do you look up certain words like that?? I mean, I don't think the dewey decimal system has a number for very or odd, know what I mean? I was just really confused and wanted to be sure I was not the only one :lol:

 

 

I don't know the dewey decimal system. I do know how to locate books and how to correctly shelve them as do my kids. But to say 'Can you tell me what topics are in 810-830's?' I could not do that.

 

 

I was just very surprised to see a thesaurus set up like that I guess. Never saw one like that before!

[Momling]

Well, the guide "words" in the thesaurus we were looking at were dewey decimal numbers. Not words. So, I guess I am wondering how many people could use that to find the words in the thesaurus they wanted. !

 

Are you sure that it was a thesaurus arranged by dewey decimal numbers?? My Roget's thesaurus uses a classification system -- but not the Dewey decimal system. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Roget%27s_thesaurus_classification

 

Was that what you're referring to?

 

As for the Dewey decimal system, it never bothered me, but I prefer the Library of Congress classification that most universities use.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Are you sure that it was a thesaurus arranged by dewey decimal numbers?? My Roget's thesaurus uses a classification system -- but not the Dewey decimal system. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Roget%27s_thesaurus_classification

 

Was that what you're referring to?

 

As for the Dewey decimal system, it never bothered me, but I prefer the Library of Congress classification that most universities use.

 

 

 

 

I don't know. I asked the lady at Hastings and she said it was dewey decimal. I thought (and still) think that is REALLY weird. Maybe it was the classification system you linked.

[mommybee]

I voted yes I can find them by dewey alone......but I spent five years as a shelver at the library so I better be able too :)

 

Not quite sure my kids can yet, but I've been teaching them.

 

Oh and I had no clue when I was in school how to find anything by dewey.