oh yes, the bias in Dewey is BLATANT
the Christian religion is given almost the entire 200's, from 200-289, and every
other religion of the world is shmooshed together between 290 and 299, as if they
clearly don't count!
I never realized this about Dewey until I spent some time weeding the 200s in a
library I acquired many years ago, and I just happened to notice this
then I began to notice it in other parts of Dewey as well
yes, clearly Dewey had a Western, Christian bent that he applied to his
classification system - it's a shame because I think it's a good system and could
be embraced by more parts of the world had he been thinking a little more
holistically and a lot less ethnocentrically
_________________________
Patricia Sarles, MA, MLS
Passages Academy Libraries
941 Rev. James A. Polite Avenue
Bronx, New York 10459
tel: (718) 861-2003
fax: (718) 861-2039
psarles@schools.nyc.gov
"Nothing of value comes without being earned, That's why great leaders are those
who lead by example first. You can't demand respect because of a title or a
position and expect people to follow. That might work for a little while, but in
the long run people respond to what they see." - Michael Jordan
"Libraries are not made; they grow." - Augustine Birrell
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications on behalf of M S
Sent: Mon 11/12/2007 1:31 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Bias in Dewey
Hello
I read with interest Debbie Reese's comments about the bias in Dewey/LC
shelving
I agree that there is bias in the Dewey system toward certain groups.
My question is- Did anyone ever noticed the bias toward biblical figures?
In many cases, King David, Samuel, Sarah, Rachel, Abraham, Moses, Joshua,
Debra, etc... are treated as biblical figures (subject headings of books
about them) not Jewish leaders and so are all the Old Testament stories
(unless the book title specifies Jewish stories)
If one reads about any figure from Greek Mythology, it would say so "Greek
Mythology" or Greek diety. If one reads folktales, it would say "African
folktale", "Chinese folktale" etc ...not so for the Old Testament which is
early Jewish history.
A picture book titled *Exodus, *would not have with in its subject heading
anything to do with Judaism or with the holiday of Passover (which is based
on the story in Exodus)
For centuries the Bible (Old Testament) was purposely not treated as a
Jewish book.
It is the same with Dewey, not puposely but still the same.
In my foundation course in library science, a student asked in which
language the bible was written, I was amazed to hear students say (NYC)
Greek, Latin, and no one except me said Hebrew.
How sad !
Madeleine Zember
Marshall School
Hempstead NY
drjesons@gmail.com
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