Dewey Decimal Classification System
How Books Are Arranged on the Shelves
Books usually fall into two categories, non-fiction and fiction. The Dewey Decimal System organizes information into 10 broad areas, which are broken into smaller and smaller topics. Different topics are assigned numbers, known as "call numbers."
Many libraries separate their non-fiction and fiction collections. The Oswalt Library on the Wesson Campus is one such library. The Dewey Decimal System organizes all non-fiction books in this collection. FIC, SC, and E represent the Fiction Collection, Story Collection, and Easy or Children's Collection.
Just because it is in the Dewey Decimal System doesn't mean it is non-fiction. Some books such as Folk and Fairy Tales can be found in 398, Poetry in 811, Plays in 812, and some classical fiction works might be found in 813.
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000 Generalities
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100 Philosophy and Psychology
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010 Bibliography
020 Library & information sciences
030 General encyclopedic works
040 Unassigned
050 General serials & their indexes
060 General organizations & museology
070 News media, journalism, publishing
080 General collections
090 Manuscripts & rare books
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110 Metaphysics
120 Epistemology, causation, humankind
130 Paranormal phenomena, Occult
140 Specific philosophical schools
150 Psychology
160 Logic
170 Ethics (moral philosophy)
180 Ancient, medieval, Oriental philosophy
190 Modern Western philosophy
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200 Religion
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300 Social sciences
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210 Natural theology
220 Bible
230 Christian theology
240 Christian moral & devotional theology
250 Christian orders & local church
260 Christian social theology
270 Christian church history
280 Christian denominations & sects
290 Other & comparative religions
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300 Sociology and anthropology
310 General statistics
320 Political science
330 Economics
340 Law
350 Public administration
360 Social services; associations
370 Education
380 Commerce, communications, transport
390 Customs, etiquette, folklore
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400 Language
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500 Natural sciences & mathematics
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410 Linguistics
420 English & Old English
430 Germanic languages German
440 Romance languages French
450 Italian, Romanian languages
460 Spanish & Portuguese languages
470 ltalic languages, Latin
480 Hellenic languages, Classical Greek
490 Other languages
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510 Mathematics
520 Astronomy & allied sciences
530 Physics
540 Chemistry & allied sciences
550 Earth sciences
560 Paleontology, paleozoology
570 Life sciences
580 Botanical sciences
590 Zoological sciences
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600 Technology (Applied sciences)
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700 The Arts
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600 General technology
610 Medical sciences and medicine
620 Engineering & allied operations
630 Agriculture
640 Home economics & family living
650 Management & auxiliary services
660 Chemical engineering
670 Manufacturing
680 Manufacture for specific uses
690 Buildings
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710 Civic & landscape art
720 Architecture
730 Plastic arts, sculpture
740 Drawing & decorative arts
750 Painting & paintings (museums)
760 Graphic arts, printmaking & prints, postage stamps
770 Photography & photographs
780 Music
790 Recreational & performing arts
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800 Literature & rhetoric
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900 Geography & history
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810 American literature
820 English & Old English literatures
830 Literatures of Germanic languages
840 Literatures of Romance languages
850 Italian, Romanian literatures
860 Spanish & Portuguese literatures
870 Italic literatures, Latin
880 Hellenic literatures, Classical Greek
890 Literatures of other languages
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900 World History
910 Geography and travel
920 Biography, genealogy, insignia
930 History of the ancient world
940 General history of Europe
950 General history of Asia, Far East
960 General history of Africa
970 General history of North America
980 General history of South America
990 General history of other areas
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