Editions of DDC

The basic principles of organizing information that were developed by Melvil Dewey were well thought out and designed. The problem with the DDC comes with the fact that in the late 1800’s, Mr. Dewey could have no idea of the explosion of knowledge that would come in the 20^th century. Because of this increase in knowledge, many areas of the DDC have had to be divided again and again, making sections with notations that are 5 or 6 or more numbers long. This has led to the development of two editions of the DDC.

The unabridged DDC has attempted to remain true to the organizational design developed by Dewey, fitting in new knowledge where it falls based on his plan. Because Dewey did leave some sections blank, for the addition of new information, this is possible for the most part. Problems come when knowledge completely unknown by Dewey (e.g. computers) have to be fit into a place in the hierarchy. As can be imagined, this fitting in of knowledge often leads to very long notations.

To address the problem of very long notations, an abridged DDC was developed. This shortened schedule is particularly designed for the smaller library that does not need the detail of the complete DDC. Because the schedules go into less detail in many areas of knowledge, the notations are usually only 3-5 digits long, making more user-friendly call numbers for the library patrons. The same organizational design is used for the abridged DDC, with the three summaries and all areas of knowledge covered, but the level of detail for that knowledge is less in the abridged DDC.

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