not assigned or no longer used

Since I'm such a completionist, I'd love to be able to fill in every category, including the not assigned or no longer used categories. I'm hoping to find some as I plod along in the challenge. Of course, I'm nowhere near being finished in any category! But a girl can dream ...

What prompted this post was I noticed in an older post that Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth is labeled as 926, a no longer used category (I double checked with the Library of Congress, and it's true!).

So I was wondering, if anyone comes across a book that has one of those mysterious DD categories assigned to it, could you post it here? Then other crazies like me who want to fill out the whole list have an idea of books to use.

I haven't compared what's listed with what's supposedly no longer in use, but it's an interesting thought. I'll put it on my to-do list for when I get back from Texas.

An old DD number I remember from when I was akid is 656, which is for railroads as a business. 625 is more of an engineering number for railroading, and 385 covers economics of railroading, also its history, and things that used to be 656 are at 385 now.

I took a look at my Nassau County library catalog and 926 is used for 143 books, such as:
Women inventors by Linda Jacobs Altman and
Residents: the perils and promise of educating young doctors by David Duncan.

An even 656 is used about 6 times, but nor for transportation, e.g.
"Stepmothering: another kind of love" by Pearl Ketover Prilik

What was the reason behind changing and retiring numbers?

I think numbers get retired to simplify the system for patrons. Separating transportation into three areas probably seemed cumbersome, so the business and economics of transportation were combined.

It gets complex for the patron, howver, if a library does not update its old numbers, particularly if it has open stacks.

When I was doing research in the Boston Pulbic Libary in the 1960's, they used: LC, DD, modified DD, their own system, some books were shelved by shelf number, and they used Cutter numbers for circulating fiction. But the BPL was mostly closed stacks. Now that I think about it, Government Documents had a seventh system, undoubtedly Patents had an eighth way, and music had a ninth way.

Thanks for the explanations, vpfluke. On a practical level, the policy makes perfect sense. On a personal level - my completing the DD challenge - I wish it were easier to find some of those old classifications.

You might find an old book about Dewey classifications on Google books. Books printed 1923 have generally lost their copyright and you may find an old book with all the classifications laid out and all the numbers in use.

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Here's a search of Google Books for "Dewey Decimal Classification".

Thanks for the link.

This is a link to a "full View" DD book from 1919:

http://books.google.com/books?id=XR4bAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Dew...

Ooh, very helpful. Thank you, AnnaClaire and vpfluke!

I found that one of my books, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men, is listed by the LoC as a 329, which is "no longer used".

I found that John Quincy Adams and American Continental Empire was in 308, which is no longer used. I'm counting this towards the US Presidents Challenge as well, since there is a finite limit to the amount I can read.

I was looking through things I might add to my reading list and found that Michel Foucault's Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason has been put into not one, but two different "not assigned no longer used" numbers, 132 and 157.

most of the internet gives it 132.

That's interesting that Foner got put in a "no longer used" category- the book isn't that old.

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The Library of Congress -- which I trust when there's a conflict, because you have to pick something after all -- puts it in 157. Some copies on LT are in 190, which seems reasonable, if you want it for a category that's still in use.

It's been years since I was in Library School, but I seem to remember that there is a difference between unassigned and no longer used. And I'm not sure that LC is the arbiter of Dewey assignments since they use their own system, and indicate in the record what Dewey might be used.

When I'm doing cataloging at our small town library, and can't find CIP info I first look to see what other libraries in the state have used, but since many of them now use LC vice Dewey, I go to World Cat. But it still often comes down to making a choice of what we think best describes the book for our clients.

In the case of this challenge, I'd say whatever fits your idea of where the book belongs.

The Political Culture of the American Whigs seems to be considered a 329 (Not assigned or no longer used)

# 18

The Free Library of Philadelphia uses 324.2732 for The Political Culture of American Whigs, despite LOC suggesting 329.

good to know