Re: Non-fiction Explanation

[sandes <sandes@WILKEN-DSM.COM>]

Ever notice that when something is changed from the original intent there
is inevitably something that no longer fits?  This is, essentially, the
case of the modified Dewey System.

Believe it or not, there is no place in the basic philosophy of Dewey for
Fiction/NonFiction and the changes we've made by creating a Fiction
collection added to it has left a lot of areas - not just Fairy Tales -
hard to justify.

All material can be identified within the Dewey Numbers.  Nonfiction items
like, of course, novels can be listed in the literature 800s.  As, Grapes
of Wrath in 813, the Christmas Carol in 823, etc.

Therefore it's not really fair to continue using Fiction/Nonfiction as
definitions within the system and its use, as Tracey has indicated, will
inevitably lead to questions whose only answer can be that "traditionally"
we place certain items in a certain location.

It leads also, as another LM_Net member just posted, the problem of where
to put essay collection like Chicken Soup for the Soul.

A fine example, by the way, is to take a look at the history of the
cataloguing of Go Ask Alice (Anon.) which was originally catalogued as
non-fiction (in the 610s) and only after the author admitted that the
account was fictional was it changed to the Fiction designation.  Seem also
to recall that the Amityville Horror also did such a change.

Now, what we tell the students?  I really don't know.  I've tried the
"Information on this topic can be found in ....."  but I still get "But
Mrs. Jones told us that all the ones with numbers are true".  Maybe someone
out there has some suggestions.

Earl
Earl Sande
Secondary School Librarian
International School of Tanganyika
Post Office Box 2651
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
(e-mail :  sandes@wilken-dsm.com)

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