Finding a Dewey Number

Greetings!

I hope you are getting settled into a routine and may soon have some time to work on your library. One of the questions I get most is about how to find the Dewey number in order to catalog books. I have put this information on previous posts, but it is certainly good to be reminded on occasion.

There are a number of ways to find the Dewey number.

1. For most newer books, the publisher will have a suggestion for where the book will fit and give a Dewey number accordingly. This is found on the imprint page – the page with all the tiny print and publisher information. You will likely see a small section with the author’s name, a short summary, ISBN number, Library of Congress number, and the Dewey number. Sometimes you might see an apostrophe in the Dewey number. This usually occurs when there are three or more decimal places. The apostrophe signifies that you could stop the Dewey number there if you like. I have found that usually the publisher gives a number that I can live with and not have to change it.

2. You can go to the Library of Congress website and type in the title of your book and find the Dewey number there. Go to http://catalog.loc.gov, type in the title of your book and press “Search”. A list of titles should come up. Find the specific title you are looking for and double click your book. Some information on the book will come up, but you will probably not find the Dewey number there. You then need to click “Full Record” and in that part you will probably find the Dewey number. I say ‘probably’ because at times you may not find it there. This website is usually very helpful, but it is possible you might not find success here.

3. You may be able to borrow a set of DDC books from your local public library in order to find a Dewey number. I would not recommend this unless you have had some experience using these books since it can be complicated and frustrating to the novice. (Believe me, I know!)

4. You might be lucky enough to find a librarian who will volunteer to help put your library in order. This is the best option as it takes most of the work off you!

5. You can skip looking for it and purchase books already cataloged. This is a great help, BUT it costs something per book. Usually the cost is between $1.00 and $2.00 or maybe even more. It would depend on your supplier. If you purchase your books from a local bookstore, this might not be an option anyway. You might decide that the extra cost is worth your time and hassle, but there are a couple of other things to think about first. If your library is cataloged fairly simply meaning you use very few decimals, you might get a book that is cataloged with three or four decimals. Vegetarian cookbooks have the Dewey number of 641.5636 but you might have chosen to go with a simpler 641 for all cookbooks. Another thing to consider is the placement of a book. I bought a book a few years ago about whale scientists. I thought it would be a great addition to our section on whales and show how people work to help them. The Dewey number for whales is in the 599’s. We wondered if it might work in the career section which is in the 300’s, but decided to go ahead and keep it in with the whales since that was my original intention on purchasing the book.

6. If your public library is online, check their catalog and see if you can find your book or books that are similar. My library at Rogers is online and you can check to see where I have put books. Go to library.rschool.org and you can search for what you want. You can also go to our school website, click “Meet Us”, then click “Student Support”, and click “Library”. The link is on that page.

7. Last but not least, you can email me and I’ll give you some suggestions, too.

The bottom line is to make sure the book fits with your library and is placed where the kids can easily find the book so they can use it. If the kids can’t find it, they won’t be able to read it.

Have a great week. Access my blog at sdalibrarian.blogspot.com for previous posts.

Audrey