Melville Dewey may have been a man of questionable moral character during his lifetime, but for the most part, I still use his system for organizing my non fiction. School librarians (and librarians in general) get very passionate about this topic, but in my 27 years in education, I have yet to see the Dewey Decimal Police break down the library doors and issue citations for improper shelving. My philosophy is…Do what works best for your patrons.
With that said, do we still teach the Dewey Decimal System? I do. Here in New York, we use the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum, (ESIFC) which mentions library organization in Standard 1: Inquiry and Design Thinking beginning in Kindergarten. In Grade 3, Dewey is specifically mentioned as an example, as you can see in the box below.
STANDARD 1: INQUIRY AND DESIGN THINKING
Organization • Identifies major areas of the library (e.g., Dewey areas; genre areas) and what main topics are included in each
I think teaching this organizational system has value; it’s an example of critical thinking and organization for students to observe in a time where not a lot of critical thinking is evident, in spite of the accountable talk movement.
According to the OCLC, most public and K-12 libraries still use Dewey, while academic and university libraries favor the Library of Congress Catalog System. (LCCS) To that end, I’ve developed several resources to teach and review the basics of the Dewey Decimal System. For a free copy of one of my standards-based lessons on Dewey from my website, click here. I’d love to hear your opinion. Chime in on facebook or Instagram under this post.
Happy thanksgiving to you and yours!
If you’d prefer to download from TPT, click here.
References:
“Priority Skills” Stripling, et. al © 2021 ESIFC URL: https://slsa-nys.libguides.com/ifc
"[Research]" www.oclc.org. ©2023 OCLC 22 November 2023 .URL: https://guides.uflib.ufl.edu/RSI