Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC)

Abstract: The Dewey Decimal Classification is today the world’s most widely used library classification system. This article presents the basic characteristics of the DDC, and discusses these in the context of their alternatives and research in the field. It provides a brief overview of its historical development, and addresses the theoretical issues and criticism raised against it. It argues that there is a discrepancy between on the one side Dewey Decimal Classification’s worldly success, and on the other side its academic qualities. Some of the problematic issues in the Dewey Decimal Classification are connected to the philosophy of its founder, Melvil Dewey, which is characterized by a narrow pragmatism emphasizing the “mark and park” function at the expense of “keeping pace with knowledge”. Henry Bliss developed an alternative philosophy and classification based on the principle that a bibliographic classification shall represent the scientific and educational consensus, leading to a closer connection between library classification and the study of knowledge domains. Finally, Jesse Shera developed a “social epistemology,” emphasizing a deeper kind of pragmatism, which recognized fundamental disagreements in knowledge and its organization, implying an even deeper connection to knowledge domains (which today form the basis for the domain-analytic approach). None of these later alternatives has the same popularity as the Dewey Decimal Classification, but it is argued that they provide a healthier basis of knowledge organization as a field of study. It is important that the library and information science community consider such philosophical issues and how they influence the knowledge organization systems and knowledge organization processes.