Dewey Decimal System Day
Dewey Decimal System Day
Celebrated on December 10th every year. The day is observed to celebrate the birthday of Melvil Dewey(1851-1931), the inventor of Dewey Decimal System of Library Classification.
Year | Date | Day | Where |
2019 | December 10th | Tuesday | United States |
2020 | December 10th | Thursday | United States |
2021 | December 10th | Friday | United States |
Twitter Hashtags:
#DecimalDeweySystemDay
#DecimalDeweySystem
Related: Other National Days Celebrated on December 10th:
Why Dewey Decimal System Day?
The day is observed to celebrate the birthday of MelvilDewey(1851-1931), the inventor of Dewey Decimal System of Library Classification. Dewey Decimal system is a method of classifying books in a library. Numbers ranging from 000 to 999 are used to highlight different fields of knowledge. Different fields have different subdivisions and are characterized by decimals and numbers.
How to celebrate Dewey Decimal System Day?
- Post on social media about Dewey Decimal System and Melvil Dewey using hashtag #DecimalDeweySystemDay
- Visit a library and have a talk with the librarian about the arrangement of books in the library, and how Dewey Decimal Classification is used. Then go through the books in the library and understand what was discussed with the librarian.
- Read a book on Melvil Dewey and also Dewey Decimal System.
Interesting facts on Dewey Decimal System Day :
- Decimal Dewey Classification was first introduced by Melvil Dewey and implemented in Amherst College Library in 1873.
- Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey was always interested in simplifying things for efficient usage. As a young adult, he simplified his name ‘Melville Dewey’ to ‘ Melvil Dewey’ as he thought the letters ’le’ were not needed in his name and dropped his middle names. He worked as an assistant librarian in the Library of Amherst’s college when he invented the DDC at the age of 21.
- He co-founded and edited the Library Journal and helped in establishing the American Library Association in 1876. He became the librarian of Columbia College in New York City in 1883 and founded the world’s first library in 1887.
- Later it was published in 1876. Since then the DDC has been updated and the 23rd version was published in 2011.
- The early published Dewey system was used for non-fictitious books alone, but nowadays can be used for fictitious books also.
- The first three editions of the Dewey Decimal system were revised under the management and administration of Melvil Dewey from 1891 to 1921. Since then many editors have modified the system.
- The Dewey Decimal system is suitable for libraries of all sizes. It is easy to adopt as it comes with a user’s guide. The online Computer Library Center (OCLC) maintains the Dewey Classification System. Even smaller libraries adopt the abridged version of DDC which suits with libraries with books less than 20,000.
- Under this system, different numbers represent different topics. Basically, all knowledge falls into ten groups. Each of the ten groups has further 100 subgroups. The major ten groups are: General Knowledge 000-099; Philosophy& Psychology 100-199; Religion &Mytholgy 200-299; Social Sciences& Folklore 300-399; Languages & Grammar 400-499; Mathematics & Natural Sciences 500-599; Medicine & Technology 600-699; Arts & Creations 700-799; Rhetoric & Literature 800-899; History & Geography 900-999.
- The above ten groups are further subdivided into smaller groups. For example: In the number 942: 9 represents history, 4 represents Europe, 2represents England and so 942 refers to History of England. Under further classification, 942.063 represents history of English Common Wealth.
- The Decimal Dewey System is used in more than 135 countries and translated into 30 different languages.
History of Dewey Decimal System Day:
Though the exact year of celebration of Dewey Decimal System Day is unknown, it was on this day in 1851 the inventor the Decimal Dewey System, Melvil Dewey was born.