Cataloging
Dewey Table
| SUBJECT | DEWEY NUMBER | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| African-American history | 973.0496 | Use for purely historical analyses of events and themes in Black history. Prefer the 300s for interdisciplinary works drawing on sociology, economics, political science, and related disciplines – especially if they are contemporary in scope. Also note: do not use region-specific numbers (94X-97X) for books with a narrow geographic focus, even though many of those titles will come in with numbers in that range. For example, we have Blacks in the west and Black southerners in the age of Jim Crow at the general 973.0496 number rather than 978.00496 (Western US, African Americans) and 975.00496 (Southeastern US, African Americans). |
| African-American history, New England | 974.00496 | Shelve works on topics related to African American history (slavery, the civil rights movement, etc.) that focus exclusively on New England here rather than at the broader 973 number in the entry above. Break from 973.0496 only for our region; do not use other regional numbers from the history range 94X-97X even if the item-in-hand has a narrow geographic scope (i.e., the south, the west). |
| Family histories, US | 973.099 | Class comprehensive works on prominent American families here. Titles should cover family lines that have been in the public eye – because of their political, commercial, and/or philanthropic activities – for multiple generations. Examples include the Astors and the Vanderbilts. NOTE: This number is also used for collective biographies of US presidents, first ladies, and VPs. |
| Native populations, general histories (North America) | 970.004 | Use for books on the history and civilization of populations native to the landmass now encompassed by Mexico, the US, and Canada. Titles here should cover at least two of these three countries. |
| Native populations, government relations with one or more tribes (North America) | 970.5 | A substantial portion of the text should address governmental policies, military campaigns, relocation programs, etc. Look for lengthy passages on specific administrations and/or generals. Titles that focus on a particular tribe’s reaction to state or federal agendas as one aspect of the tribe’s broader history tend to go better in 970.3 TRI. Use 323.1197 for works that examine in detail the civil and political rights of tribes native to the US (works at 323 should focus on advocacy issues or the personal experiences of tribal members pursuing legal action rather than historical accounts of military campaigns or government policy). |
| Native populations, specific tribes (North America) | 970.3 TRIBE Author | Class histories of individual tribes in 970.3. Append two cutters to the Dewey number – the first for the tribe, the second for the author. Use only the first three letters of each word; capitalize all three letters representing the tribe. For example, John Ehle’s book on the Cherokee: 970.3 CHE Ehl |
| Native populations, multiple tribes (United States) | 973.0497 | Put here books that cover more than one tribe, are not exclusively about government policy/civil rights issues, and are US-only in scope. Include works on the intersection of African American and Native American history. |
| Native populations, New England | 974.00497 | One option for handling books on the tribes of a particular region in the US is to use the appropriate geographic number from 971-979 plus the -004 subdivision for “ethnic and national groups”:
We follow this practice only for New England tribes (974.00497). For books on other parts of the US, use 973.0497 (not the more specific regional numbers, i.e., 975.00497, 976.00497). |
| Native populations, pre-Columbian period (North or South America) | 9XX.XXXX | For works covering tribal histories before 1492, use the Dewey number for the place plus a subdivision for the time period. Do not include the -004 subdivision. For example, a work on Mayan civilization during the classical period: 972.016 (972 is the number for Mexico and .016 indicates the period from AD 100-900). |