I recently read an article in an online publication devoted to books and libraries. I knew that Melvil Dewey, who created the Dewey Decimal System used by libraries worldwide for 145 years, was a racist, an antisemite, and a sexual harasser . Being familiar with the Dewey Decimal System, I was aware of many of its shortcomings, but RACISM IN THE DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM by Anna Gooding-Call really spelled things out. She wrote that even in his day, when racial and religious prejudice was rampant, "people were appalled at his antisemitism. He literally opened his own social club just to exclude Jews, including many of his own colleagues. (Needless to say, people of color weren’t welcome either.)"
She goes on to say: "The quickest possible glance reveals the racism in the Dewey Decimal System. We’ll use the religion section as an example. The 200s encompass all religion, nominally, although the problems with this premise are obvious. Each Dewey heading encompasses ten major subjects, dividing each up by subtopics that add digits to the end of the number. Six of the ten subjects in the 200s are explicitly for Christianity-related subjects. Three of those remaining are either explicitly or implicitly Judeo-Christian. Finally, at the bottom of the heap, the 290s cover “other” religions. Islam, Baha’ai, and Babism all get to share 297. Germanic religions get 293. All “religions of Indic origin,” in other words Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, get to share 294. Hinduism gets all of 294.5 to itself. How generous!
299 covers everything else, and we’re going to focus on this bit because it’s the most glaring example of racism in the Dewey Decimal system I can think of. You see where I’m going with this: religions Dewey associated with people of color ended up with way less space than the “real” faith. Not convinced? Fine. There’s a section in the 200s just for Black people.
The entire 299.6 subdivision is for “religions originating among Black Africans and people of Black African descent.” In fact, everything about “African religion of Haitians in Haiti” can be fit into 299.6097294, according to the DDS. Because at some point, someone — for some reason — decided that Haitian religions originating from Black people were not as important as “Germanic” religions originating from white ones. If that doesn’t make you mad, then you’re probably qualified to write a cataloging system in the late 1800s."
The author goes on to drill a little deeper by writing about cutter numbers - all the numbers after the period in a call number - which proceed to lump dissimilar religions together by region when libraries shorten a number from 299.6097294, for example, to 299.609, or even just 299.6, but that is probably more information than a non-librarian needs. Take it from me, the Dewey Decimal System needs a major overhaul.
So.... Are you wondering about the books Plymouth Library has with a DDC number starting with 299.6? Just one: Voodoo : search for the spirit by Laènnec Hurbon, 299.675 HUR.
When I was a school librarian, I used this story to teach the Dewey Decimal System. It was about a caveman, but now I am wondering if the story should have a different protagonist, different pronouns. But here it is:
ONCE UPON A TIME, there lived a caveman, all alone in his cave. At first, the only thing he knew about was himself. The first division of the Dewey Decimal System, the 100s, is about self.
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After awhile, the caveman wondered if there was something bigger than himself (not an elephant or a water buffalo but something that created the world). The 200s are about religion and mythology.
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Eventually, the caveman stopped wondering about things and began to meet other people. The 300s contain books about customs, government , institutions, etc.
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All the cavemen realized that they needed to communicate so they created language to learn more about the world around them. The 400s have dictionaries, books of grammar, etc.
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The 500s are all about science and mathematics.
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Soon the cavemen began to farm, build things, use their knowledge. The 600s are applied science.
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Now the cavemen had time to play. Arts and leisure (sports) are in the 700s.
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They were writing - poetry and plays are in the 800s.
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and exploring the world - history and geography are in the 900s.
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And if they didn't know where to put a book, it ended up in the 000s.
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THE END