Working with Dewey 500s

Greetings!

Now we are getting to the larger sections. This week we tackle the 500s which is the science and nature section. These are the pure sciences: Math, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Earth science, Paleontology, Biology, Botany, and Animals all listed in their Dewey order. I think it would be easiest to take a section at a time and talk about what to weed and what to add.

500 We begin with the 500 heading. This is general science and the kinds of books you find here are books that have many different categories in them like Science Fair projects, science encyclopedias, question and answer books dealing with science and others like that.
Do you have any books with science projects or experiments? That would be a good place to add or update here. Carefully evaluate anything over five years old. I usually notice the astronomy section since there have been many changes over the last five years here. Look at your sets of books and make sure that no individual titles are missing. If you do have missing parts of a set, consider if the set is worth keeping or if it would be better to discard and get a new set or individual books that would cover the material.


510 Mathematics
There are some great books on math and the history of math. It is likely that you don’t have much here, so adding some fun new titles will build interest here. Math does not really get outdated like astronomy does, so check the condition of any books you may have. Weed out old, ugly, unused books. You can discard books that talk about the ‘new math’, books that have fine print and aren’t something you would use to teach math now.


520 Astronomy
We have had some major changes in this branch of science. Update your library with books on stargazing, and make sure your books don’t include Pluto as a planet any longer or say that Jupiter has 17 moons. Look for books that are attractive and have modern technology being used. This is a section to really watch the publishing dates and carefully consider what is valuable to your library and what is not.


530 Physics
Do you even have ANYTHING in this section? I admit that until recently our library was pretty sparse here and I am married to a physicist. But a year or two ago, I asked my husband to help me pick out some books that would be attractive and interesting to students in grades 6 – 8 and he found a number of titles that he felt would be interesting. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll post those titles for you. If you do have anything here, look at it and carefully evaluate its value to your school and your curriculum. If the book isn’t useful to you in some way, why are you letting it take up valuable real estate on your shelves? This weeding information applies to the rest of this 500 section and very likely your whole library.


540 Chemistry
For the most part, chemistry books may also fit in the experiments section. I’d recommend keeping experiments all together. Find books on the elements and put here. There is one that is published by Scholastic called “The Elements” that is used constantly here. I have mended our two hard cover books multiple times each and also mended a paper copy as well. If you choose to get one, I would recommend a hard cover.


550 Earth Sciences
Add books on earthquakes, volcanoes, geology, rocks and minerals, field guides for rocks, gems, and minerals, and meteorology.


560 Paleontology
Add or replace books on dinosaurs, and fossils. There are few Christian-based books, but they are out there. I would recommend you purchase books on dinosaurs and put a disclaimer note in the front. Mine says this: “Please note that parts of this book do not agree with the Biblical story of Creation.” I print out a page of 30 at a time using Avery 5160 address labels. That way when I need one of these disclaimers, I have them ready at hand.


570 Life Sciences
Add in books on genetics, habitats, rainforest, deserts, ponds, oceans, forests, mountains, and general biology books here. Don’t be afraid to put in a high school or even college textbook here. Some kids really get a kick out of looking through a higher level textbook.


580 Botony
Add books on trees, flowers, and plants here. Make sure you have field guides for local plants and flowers along with general field guides. Something that is kind of fun to have is a book on edible wild plants.


590 Animals
This is the largest section of the 500s and may even rival your 800s section. Books on animals go here. A breakdown of this section will be really helpful to know where to catalog and what you might want to include here. I hope you try to include something in each category.


590 Animals (zoology)
590.1 Animal encyclopedia, general information
590.73 Zoos
591 Specific topics in natural history
591.4 Camouflage
591.5 Endangered animals, Migration, Hibernation
592 Invertebrates (Worms)
593 Marine and seashore invertebrates (Sponges, jellyfish, anemones, coral, starfish)
594 Mollusks (slugs, snails, nudibranch, mussels, oysters, scallops, clams, shells)
595 Arthropods (Butterflies, Bees, beetles, flies, insects, spiders)
596 Chordates
597 Fish; cold-blooded vertebrates
597.8 Amphibians
597.9 Reptiles
598 Birds
599 Mammals

599.2 marsupials, rat kangaroo, wallaby, possum, wombat, koala, platypus
599.3 pangolin, anteaters, aardvark, beaver, squirrel, rodents, sloth, armadillo, rabbits, coney, pikas, hedgehog, mole, shrew, rat, mice, vole, porcupine, chipmunk, marmot, prairie dog,
599.4 bats
599.5 marine mammals: whales, dolphins, porpoises, manatees
599.6 pigs, boars, hippo, camel, giraffe, pronghorn, bovines, bison, gazelle, sheep, goat, deer, tapir, zebra, rhino, elephant, wild horses
599.7 mongoose, civets, hyena, leopard, big cats, mink, weasel, badger, skunk, otter, wild dogs, wolf, fox, bears, panda, seals
599.8 primates, monkey,
599.9 homo sapiens




I hope you are all doing well and are gearing down for the end of the school year. I can barely believe that it is almost upon us.
Audrey