Dewey Decimal System

Teaching the Dewey Decimal System

Hello,
The Dewey Decimal System is a valuable resource for anyone. Even if your library doesn’t use Dewey, students will need to know it or at least know the basics in order to use most other libraries. Most public schools teach the Dewey Decimal System, but often our SDA schools don’t do as well at teaching this. Some might disagree with me, but I think that a student should know (memorize) the basic hundreds and the types of books that one can fine in each hundred. Here is an easy way to present this to your students.

The Dewey Decimal System is arranged a little like a person growing up.
100’s - Who Am I? (Psychology) When we are little, we think only of ourselves. The books in this section have information that a person might want to know about himself. Books on my thoughts or how I feel would be included in this section.

200’s – Who is My God? (Religion) As we grow a little older we start to wonder where everyone came from. These books explain the world and how it was created. Books on religions are located here. (Also books on Mythology, but we don’t usually include these in our lessons!)

300’s – Who is My Neighbor? (Social Studies) Once you learn about other people, you want to find out more about others. What do they do and where do they live? Books on careers, jobs, holidays, folktales are located here. These books are all about the social world.

400’s – How Do I Communicate With My Neighbor? (Languages) Now that we know something about other people, we might want to communicate with them. We need to learn their language, so books on other languages are here.

500’s – Man Sees the Things God Made. (Pure Science) Books on science and nature are in this section. We learn about the heavens, the animals, and the world God made.

600’s – Man is Lazy and Learns “How To’ Use the Science and Nature information to Work for Him. (Applied Science/Technology) Books on cars, airplanes, building bridges and other things, caring for your health, books on diseases, cookbooks, caring for pets; all these subjects are in here. This section is the “How To” section. The animal books are in the Pure science section, but caring for them (How To) is in the Applied Science section.

700’s – Man Enjoys Leisure Time. (Fine Arts) Since Man has learned to use science to work for him, he now has time to enjoy things like sports, crafts, music, drawing, and other hobbies.

800’s – Man is Vain and Likes to Tell Stories About Himself. (Literature)

900’s – Man Likes to Leave a Record of His Doings, Goings, and Comings. (History, Geography, and Biography)

000’s – General Information. This includes books like encyclopedias, media, newspapers, and books that have a lot of general information such as question and answer books.

I hope this information is helpful to you and will be enough of a start to explain to students how the library is arranged.

Have a great week.
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com