TEACHER’S GUI DE
TEACHER’S GUI DE
Suggested Resources
Periodically, Internet Resources are updated on our web site at
www.LibraryVideo.com
• www.columbia.k12.mo.us/dre/dewey/index.html
This ThinkQuest Junior project, Do We Really Know Dewey?, offers a wonderful explanation of Dewey Decimal Classification as well as online activities for students.
• www.oclc.org/dewey/
This Dewey Decimal Classification home page includes tutorials, a history
and summaries of the system.
Using the Dewey
Decimal System
Grades 2–6
T
TEACHER’S GUIDE CONSULTANT
Joyce Kasman Valenza, MLS
Series Consultant
Joyce Kasman Valenza is a nationally recognized school librarian,
as well as a columnist, author and speaker on issues relating to libraries,
educational technology and information literacy.
COMPLETE LIST OF TITLES
• USING THE DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM
• USING THE INTERNET
• USING THE LIBRARY
Teacher’s Guides Included
and Available Online at:
800-843-3620
Teacher’s Guide and Program Copyright 2003 by Schlessinger Media,
a division of Library Video Company
P.O. Box 580, Wynnewood, PA 19096 • 800-843-3620
Executive Producer:Andrew Schlessinger
Program produced and directed by Lunchbox Communications
K8351
All rights reserved.
4/06
V2716
he mission of today’s school library media programs is
“to ensure that students and staff are effective users of
ideas and info rmation” (I n formation Powe r, American
Library Association, 1998). School libraries are places
“ w h e re the rubber meets the ro a d .” The content our
students learn in their classrooms and the technology
skills they pick up in computer labs are applied in the
library as students engage in the process of research.
Today’s school library provides both physical and intellectual access to technology. Librarians provide the critical
human intervention students need by offering instruction
in search stra t e gi e s , and modeling and demonstrating
respect for intellectual property. They also select, and
guide learners to, high-quality print materials and online
databases, and help students ethically and effectively communicate the results of research — their new knowledge.
Program Overview
L i b ra ries (and life) would be chaotic without cl a s s i fic ation! Dewey Decimal
C l a s s i fication (DDC) is the system most widely used to organize materials in
p u blic and school libra ri e s . When a student understands the DDC, he or she
gains a great deal of independence and is empowe red to effi c i e n t ly access
information for homework and for personal interests in almost any library.
The DDC is used to classify nonfiction materials in all areas of know l e d ge ,
b e ginning with ten large catego ries represented by 100s — from the 000s to
the 900s.Those ten areas are divided into ten smaller sections or subcl a s s e s ,
and further subdivided into even smaller sections. Books and other materi a l s
may be even more specifically classified with the addition of numbers following a decimal point, hence the name Dewey Decimal Classification.
A book’s Dewey number and the group of letters below it, often representing
the author’s last name, form its call number. The call number located on a
book’s spine is actually its address on the shelve s .The Online Public Access
Catalog, or OPAC, makes it easy to find call numbers for library materials.Signs
a round the libra r y and on the shelves guide students in locating
books and other materials in the libra ry. B rowsing the Dewey nu m b e rs and
exploring the world of nonfiction can be great fun!
Vocabulary
browsing — To casually look through the shelves of a libra ry in hopes of
finding something that interests you.
call number — The nu m b e r, usually on the spine of the book, that lets you
k n ow where books and other materials are located in the libra ry. Call
nu m b e rs often have letters underneath their numbers that re fer to the
author’s name or book title.
card catalog — A print database of a library’s collection, usually contained in
a large cabinet, in which cards offer records of library materials. Catalog cards
give library users information about authors, titles, subjects and call numbers.
nonfiction — Literature that is based on fact. Nonfiction library materials are
arranged by Dewey Decimal Classification numbers.
Online Public Access Catalog — Also known as OPAC, the database used
for locating library materi a l s . L i b ra ry users search the OPAC by looking up
authors, titles, subjects or keywords and phrases.
spine — The side of the book or the part you see when the book is on the
shelf.
Follow-up Discussion and Activities
• Discuss what cl a s s i fic ation is and why it is important. Brainstorm a list of
cl a s s i fication systems used in eve ry d ay life . Think of a way that you could
use a system of classification in your own life.
• G e n e rate a list of things that we re not around when Dewey created his
system.To illustrate that it is a living system, find where these items would
be categorized today.
• Discuss the diffe rences between fiction and nonfi c t i o n . W hy do you think
they are cataloged differently?
• Gather a selection of nonfiction books and use a poster of the ten main
classes. Holding up each book, ask the class to predict where it should go in
the system. Po s s i ble examples: basketball, fa i rytales (a tri cky one to point
out — 398.2), a fiction title (this would be a trick, as it is not filed in nonfiction), a Civil War history.
• B ring out a shelf of books. Challenge small groups of students to put the
books in order. ( For yo u n ger students, c over the letters and have them just
s o rt the Dewey nu m b e rs.) Have the class critique its efforts.Are any of the
books out of order? Can you fix the shelf? How?
• Consider having a small group of students stand in front of the class with
large laminated call number signs (see list below). Have the class arrange the
students in Dewey order.
743.4 Ame
classification — A system that org a n i z e s , grouping similar things together
and keeping different things apart.
743.6 Cop
Dewey Decimal System — The system used by school and public libraries
all over the world to classify nonfiction libra ry materials by subject. I nve n t e d
by Melvil Dewey, Dewey Decimal Classification divides all of know l e d ge into
ten main categories and further into more specific numbers, often followed by
numbers preceded by a decimal point.
745.5 Pra
743.6 Bra
743.83 Arn
743.87 Ame
743.837 Arn
fiction — Stories that are made up by authors, and are not factual types of
i n fo rmation. Fiction books in the library are arra n ged alphab e t i c a l ly by the
author’s last name.
• Divide the class into pairs or small groups re p resenting the ten main divisions. Give them 20 minutes to explore the shelves in their section and have
them present a “commercial” for their Dewey number.
keywords — Words selected to type into a search box . Good search e rs
choose these wo rds care f u l ly and connect them with Boolean opera t o rs
(AND, OR, NOT).
(Continued)
• E n c o u rage students to create a DDC mu ra l . T h ey can cut pictures out of
m agazines that fall under diffe rent Dewey catego ries, and then paste these
pictures under appropriately labeled parts of a piece of mural paper.