I went into a public library as opposed to a research library for the first time in 10 years and was taken aback by the cataloging; I know the LOC system well enough that I couldn’t find anything quickly. Why is fiction and non fiction separated in public libraries? What makes something fiction vs non?
In: 1
LOC is much, *much* more in-depth in its classification (21 classes vs 10 classes). The numbers/letters in both are call numbers. It allows you to narrow down from broad to specific. I.E., 900’s in Dewey Decimal is for history/geography. If you add a 7 after the 9 (970), it becomes history of North America. 973 is United States, and on and on.
With 10 available slots for numbers, it can only get so specific. With 21 slots for numbers *and* letters, LOC can get *really* specific. Which is especially useful for very specific topics you can research (especially academically), as you can imagine.
DDS has many flaws (don’t get me started) but it’s easier in smaller collections, such as public libraries.
Hope this makes sense. I’m a librarian so I get very into all this and hope the explanation is easy enough. (I prefer LOC tbh)
Then fiction is “fuck it, just go by name.” Much easier that way.
Latest Answers