[WikiEN-l] Re: Categories and NPOV: Libraries?

Thu Jun 30 20:38:29 UTC 2005

On 30/06/05, dpbsmith at verizon.net <dpbsmith at verizon.net> wrote:

> Anyway, it seems to me that librarians must deal with this sort of thing all
> the time. And the many public libraries that use the Dewey Decimal system
> can't just fall back on the Library of Congress. Although perhaps there's
> some central authority that recommends Dewey classifications. But in any
> case, someone has to decide whether Velikovsky is science or science fiction.
> Who does? and how?

Dewey is in fact controlled by a very strong central organisation -
you should see the money they charge! <g> It's currently in the 22nd
edition, of four hefty hardbound volumes; one a guide to implementing,
two detailed references, and a voluminous index; even then, you still
find quite impressive ambiguities.

If you want, I can go and have a look at the weekend and see if it
discusses the classification of such books; it'd be interesting to
note what, if anything, it has to say.

[And as a sidenote - I have done guerrilla reshelving in the past, I confess...]

-- 
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk