The Dewey Classification System

A Little History Melvil Dewey, an American librarian, developed this classification system in 1876. He felt that books on the same subject should be grouped together to make researching easier. The system is based on ten classes of subjects 000-999. The Dewey system is called a decimal system because of its use of 10's. The ten main classes of the Dewey Decimal System are each divided into 10 subdivisions (e.g., 910-990), when decimal numbers are added the subject area becomes more specific (e.g., 900 is the category for History, 973 is the category for United States History and 973.4 is specifically designated for materials on the history of the United States during the years of 1789-1809).
Learn more about the Dewey Decimal System

 000-099  General Works  Encyclopedias, books about books, world mysteries
100-199   Philosophy  Man's ideas, psychology, logic, ESP
200-299   Religion Myths and legends, world religions
300-399   Social Sciences  People in groups, government, law, vocations, customs
400-499   Languages Dictionaries, English, foreign languages
500-599   Pure Sciences  Mathematics, astronomy, physics,  chemistry, geology, paleontology,  biology,  zoology, botany
600-699   Technology 
                      and applied
                      sciences		 Medicine, engineering, agriculture, business, radio television, aviation
700-799   The Arts Architecture, sculpture, painting, music, photography, recreation
800-899   Literature  Poetry, plays, special collections
900-999   Geography and 
                      History		 States, countries, wars, decades
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