Customer Reviews

The Dewey Decimal System (True Books: Books and Libraries)

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Ah, the delights of Mr. Dewey's Decimal System! How would one ever find what one wanted in the Library without it? One could wander forever! Without knowing what the specific numbers were all about, I just "knew" where the books I was interested in were in my primary and secondary school and local public library - a "birds of feather" kind of thing. Imagine my utter confusion when confronted and confounded with those disorienting letters of Library of Congress ilk! One needs a trail of bread crumbs to navigate LC! My consternation comes under the proverb "You cannot teach an old dog new tricks!"

Anyway, Allan Fowlers primer on the Dewey Decimal System is just that: a starting point. It sets out the theory behind Mr. Dewey's system, and the ten basic categories thusly:
000 Reference works - encyclopedias, newspapers, magazines
100 Philosophy and pyschology
200 Religion
300 Social Sciences - law, education, customs, everyday life
400 Languages
500 Basic sciences - mathematics, chemistry
600 Applied Sciences - technology, medicine, engineering
700 the arts - architecture, painting, music
800 Literature - poetry, novels, plays
900 Geography, biography, and history

But subdivisions of the "biggies" are not explored, except for an illustrative exercise in the 700's to get us to "magic." So, if you are looking for a fun introductory book for kids, this is it. If you are wanting a detailed description of the Dewey Decimal System, consult your local librarian. Reviewed by TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer.

Every time I take out this book to think about using it to introduce the Dewey Decimal System to my library students, I see the big, glaring error and put it back. The big, glaring error makes me sick. But then no one else has questioned this big, glaring error, making me wonder if I am mistaken. But I'm not.

Look at it--the book cover. Discover the big, glaring error for yourself. This is a True Book (a nearly always dependable, serviceable book series) about the Dewey Decimal System. Please tell me you see it--that big, glaring error?

The book tells us--accurately--about Melvil Dewey, who invented the organizational system for arranging books in a library. He established the first school for librarians and co-founded the American Library Association, one of our most respected and trusted organizations. (As a side note and information not in the book but interesting nevertheless, did you know that one way librarians kept books prior to Dewey was by color. Another was by size. If a librarian died, the successor had to figure out that system.)

There's a good explanation of how Dewey works: a 10-based system ("dec" in decimal). Then the author explains the subdivisions, using magic as the subject to find. This is all well and good. In fact, this is a nice little introductory book to the Dewey system.

What Do Authors Do? is a book which explains how illustrations are created for a book. When a writer submits his work which needs illustrations or photographs, the editor is the one who finds that illustrator (unless the book is a work of collaboration to begin with).

On page 48, the last page in this reviewed book, "The Dewey Decimal System," is the list of photo credits. Ben Klaffke is responsible for the cover photo, plus several others inside the book. I'm sure he was given a list of subjects to take. He did and went on to the next job. Frankly, I don't blame Mr. Klaffke. The editor? It's likely she didn't know. Reviewers for School Library Journal and Booklist (whose reviews appear on the product page for this book)? Now we have reached the level of accountability. How neither reviewer caught this big, glaring error is beyond me, even for a stress-packed job of deadlines.

Because no one else has mentioned this big, glaring error, I kept thinking I was mistaken. But, no, I'm not. This error? Please look at the cover again. The book is about the Dewey Decimal System. Those labels on the books on the cover? They are catalogued according to the Library of Congress system! That's a completely different system you're looking at!

Possibly this error would bother no one but a librarian--if the librarian even noticed it. It's not as if the world would come to an end. It's certainly not as if I had never made a mistake in the library (ha! I make them daily!). But I do not publish my mistakes for libraries to buy and shelve or use to teach the Dewey system.

I thought I would feel better for this expose', but I feel guilty and don't know why, although I think I'm changing my mind. Actually, it's kind of funny when you think about it: Splashing the Dewey Decimal system over books actually catalogued by the Library of Congress System. What do you think? Ironically funny? Carelessly funny like a jumbo jet in a prehistoric movie? Or just... What do you think?

I use multiple copies of this book with third-graders in my job as a school librarian. It is highly accessible, due to type size and page format, with lots of photographs. I don't know how much a young child could get from this book reading it independently, but as part of a lesson with explanations and discussion it works very well. The opening pages, showing home libraries (one very organized in appearance, one not) are easy for children to identify with, and make it obvious that libraries intended for general use have to be very well organized!

This is a really easy read for children about eight years old and over and explains how the Dewey Decimal system came about, how it works, and how books are sorted and classified in libraries. The book is full of colour illustrations and photographs, and can be considered the definitive guide to library cataloguing for curious children.