Friday, December 21, 2012

52 Nonfiction Books in 52 Weeks: 2013 Dewey Decimal Challenge


Hello, Bradley Beach! 

At the Library, we just recently added labels to the shelves in our adult non-fiction section to make our books easier to browse! These labels reflect classifications included in the Dewey Decimal System (more about this system below).




In order to highlight all of the wonderful books in our non-fiction collection (which doesn't seem to get as much love as our fiction section), I've decided to participate in a 2013 Dewey Decimal Reading Challenge starting on January 1, 2013, and ending on December 31, 2013.  The goal of this challenge is to read one nonfiction book per week that represents one of the classifications within the Dewey Decimal System. In total, I’ll be reading 52 non-fiction books. Each week on Monday, I’ll post my book review on this blog!

If you're interested in participating in this reading challenge (it should be fun!), please e-mail me (sharlene@bradleybeachlibrary.org) the review for the book that you've chosen each week so I can include it in our blog! This is a great way to discover new interests and new authors! It's also a great way to force yourself to step away from the Netflix and step into a book. : )

I'm excited to begin this adventure! And, to be honest, I'm also a little nervous about finding the time to sit down and read each week. I guess I'll just have to curb my Hulu. com addiction and get cracking. 

Happy Reading!

Sharlene Edwards
Program Director

A little about the Dewey Decimal System: 

The Dewey Decimal System is the way in which many libraries organize their non-fiction books. It was created in 1876 by Melvil Dewey and has been revised and expanded throughout the years. The Dewey Decimal System groups subjects, keeps similar books together, and aids in browsing. Numbers represent the different subjects within the collection. If you want to learn more about the Dewey Decimal System, you can check out this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dewey_Decimal_classes.

The Dewey Decimal System has ten main classifications with many more subcategories within these ten main categories. For each of the main categories, I will select five books to read over the course of five weeks. This will equate to a total of 50 books. The remaining two books will be selected randomly.

Categories & Subcategories:
000 Generalities
000 Computers, Loch Ness, Bigfoot, UFO’s, Aliens
020 Libraries, Encyclopedias & World Record Books
030 Encyclopedias & World Record Books
060 Museums
070 Newspapers

100s Philosophy
130 Ghosts, witches, & the supernatural
150 Optical Illusions, Feelings
170 Emotions, Values, Animal Rights

200s Religion
220 Old Testament Bible Stories
230 New Testament Bible Stories
290 Mythology, World Religions

300s Social Sciences
300 Social Issues
310 Almanacs
320 Government
330 Careers
340 Court System, Famous Trials
350 Armed Forces
360 Drugs, Environmental Issues, Titanic, Police, Firefighters
370 Schools
380 Transportation
390 Holidays, Folktales, Fairy Tales

400s Language
410 Sign Language
420 Dictionaries, Grammar
430 German Language
440 French Language
450 Italian Language
460 Spanish Language
490 Hieroglyphics, Japanese Language

500s Science and Math
500 Science Experiments, Science Sets
510 Mathematics
520 Stars, planets, astronomy, space
530 Physical Science
540 Chemistry, Atoms & Molecules, Rocks & Minerals
550 Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Weather, Hurricanes, Tornadoes
560 Dinosaurs, Prehistoric Animals, Fossils
570 Forests, Rain Forests, Deserts, Mountains, Oceans, Evolution
580 Plants, Flowers, & Trees
590 Animals & Insects

600s Applied Science
600 Inventions
610 Human body, Health
620 Rockets, Trains, Cars, Trucks
630 Farming, Farm Animals, Cats, Dogs, Pets, Horses
640 Cookbooks, Sewing
650 Secret Codes
660 How Food is Made
670 Paper Making
680 Woodworking
690 Building

700s Art
710 Art Appreciation, History of Art
720 Houses, Buildings
730 Origami, Paper Crafts
740 Drawing, Crafts
750 Painting
760 Printing
770 Photography
780 Music
790 Sports, Games, Magic, I Spy, Camping, Fishing, Racing, Hunting

800s Literature
810 Poetry, Plays, Jokes, & Riddles
820 Shakespeare
860 Poetry in Spanish

900s Geography and History
910 Explorers, Atlases
920 Flags, People (Biography)
930 Archeology, Ancient Civilizations
940 Knights, Castles, World War I & II, European Countries
950 Asian & Middle Eastern Countries
960 African Countries
970 North & Central American Countries, Native American Tribes, American History, States
980 South American Countries
990 Pacific Islands, Australia, Hawaii 

1 comment:

  1. Whoa, Sharlene, you have really covered all the bases. I do think we need to let people know a key fact about Melville Dewey: in his efforts to streamline and organize his own life, he legally changed his name to Melvil so as not to waste any additional letters.

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