DEMERITS OF DWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION

Write Down Demerits of DDC?

Answer:

DEMERITS OF DWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION:

Melville Dewey (1885-1931) invented the Dewey decimal classification (DDC) while he was working as a student -assistant in the library of Amherst College in 1873. He published the Dewey decimal classification in 1876.

The Dewey decimal classification (DDC) system is a general knowledge organization tool that is continuously revised to keep pace with knowledge.

The DDC is the most widely used classification system in the world. Libraries in more than 135 countries use the DDC to organize and provide access to their collections, and DDC numbers are featured in the national bibliographies of more than 60 countries.  Libraries of every type apply Dewey numbers on a daily basis and share these numbers through a variety of means (including WorldCat, the OCLC Online Union Catalog). Dewey is also used for other purposes, e.g., as a browsing mechanism for resources on the web. The DDC has been translated into over thirty languages.

However there are certain demerits of DDC.

.Categories is now overlapping or has shifted

·         Psychology vs. Philosophy                                                     

·         Architecture & Buildings

 .Focuses on Western thoughts

·         Hierarchical Format

·         Other languages & cultures are provided minimal space or are thrown together under one category

·         Other cultures/patrons feel “conquered”

. Call numbers can get lengthy

. Fiction is usually shelved separately from Dewey

·         Cutting off access for males especially

·         Anthologies are set apart from single works by authors

·         Explaining non-fiction & Dewey in relation to fairy tales, and such

.A Book Have More Than   One Category: A disadvantage of the Dewey Decimal System is that a book can have more than one category and doesn’t have a spot for it. Another disadvantage is that the system isn’t familiar to other people so it might be hard for people to use.

.A Book in Different Subject Areas: What happens when you are searching for a book that may land itself within different subject areas? For example: A book on Sports Medicine may find itself in the 700's as well as the 600's. Although this is not an unfixable problem, it still complicates things and is certainly a disadvantage of the system  

.Scary Number: It is noted that people  have fear of complexity of DDC number system The numbers do not have a direct correlation with the subject they represent, therefore if one is not familiar with the system ,it may be difficult to use.                                                    

. Limited Scope for Building Numbers: One of the disadvantages of DDC noticed was the limited scope for scheme adjustment and the complex set of instructions for building numbers for each class that are not applicable to the whole system. This aspect, together with the lack of logic in the scheme structure, may create obvious difficulties to staff training and scheme application

.Combined Numbers Cannot Split Easily: A further disadvantage in using DDC is that pre-combined numbers cannot be easily split and searched for.

 .Change In Number (Pakistan): DDC system has a little consistency, in earlier Pakistan has number 954.7 but afterwards it is allotted 954.9.recently. It holds 954.91.

.High cost of DDC set: It is a costly system; the cost of a set of DDC is 30-40 thousands. so high price is also not affordable for a patron.

.Classification Of Pakistani Language: Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto etc. are many mother tongs in Pakistan; every language has its fiction and poetry, so these should too be considered. Only six digit based numbers cannot compensate, whole of the languages of Pakistan.

.Priority Of Christianity on Other Religions: Maximum numbers were allotted to Christianity, some religions were neglected attentively. It shows DEWEY had western thoughts.

 .Language &Literature Should Be Closure: It is given 400 to Language and 800 to Literature, The both number should be closure to each other.             

.Social Science &History: These should be closure to each other but these are set apart from each other.

.Computer Science and Electronics: These are interrelating and overlapping. It should also be related.

.Biased To Computer Science: It is a extremely vast subject and growing fastly day to day but only 3 numbers were given to it.i.e.004,005,006.Rather than it should be give much more.             

.Biased To Islam: It is biased except Christianity ddc committee; therefore he had totally neglected Islam religion in ddc library scenario.

.Lengthy Numbers of DDC: Six numbers are basic numbers for Urdu. Therefore someone said “Has Dewey died?”

.DDC Not Good for All kind Libraries: DDC is better for general libraries and not good for special libraries. Agha khan library, agriculture library, library of Islamic studies. It is difficult to allot numbers so lengthy

.Classification by subject and not by topic

For example, the topic of drug use is discussed in psychology (157), sociology (363.45) and medical (616.863) books. Three disciplines deal with the topic in their own way. Books on drug use can therefore have different call numbers under the Dewey system.
Nonetheless, an alphabetic catalogue of topics (used in both computerized and non-computerized libraries) makes it possible to locate these books. 

.The same topic can be studied within two different disciplines

Let’s go back to the example of books on drug use. If a group of authors publishes a book on all the aspects of drug use, this book cannot be stored in three different places. In this case, the librarian assigning the call number will determine under which subject the book will be classified.
Again, if the reader consults the subject catalogue or the subject heading in a library management program, he or she will obtain a list of all the books that deal with drug use, regardless of the disciplinary angle from which it is studied.

.The length and complexity of call numbers discourages some users

The Dewey call number can be regarded as an address. If I have to meet Mr. X and I know that he lives at 641 Elm Street, the address tells me where to go. The same is true of the Dewey call number; I don't need to know whether Mr. X lives alone, or if he has children, a cat or a dog-nor do I need to understand all the intellectual criteria librarians use to determine if a book is to be classified under such and such a call number. 

With regard to the length of the call numbers, remember that elementary and even secondary school libraries use the abridged Dewey Decimal Classification system (no more than 3 digits after the decimal point) to simplify the classification.