The Geography and Biography of Libraries
Dewey Decimal Classification — 900s: Geography, Biography, History
By Guest Contributor Linda Maxie
The last of the ten divisions in the Dewey Decimal Classification system contains the call numbers 900-999. Within this section of most libraries, you will find the geography, biography, and history books. But, having said that, it can get complicated.
This section has a couple of issues that can confuse users, so let’s look at it one step at a time. In the first subdivision, 900-909, you find the general books that cover combined topics of geography, biography, and/or history, from all over the world. Books about writing history, for example, will be found here.
Geography
The second subdivision, from 910-919 is for geography books. If a library has atlases to check out, they may go here, if not, they will be in a reference section. Most readers will be attracted to the travel guides and travel narratives. These can be recent or from many years ago. For example, The Travels of Ibn Battúta, in which a Berber scholar who spent almost thirty years traveling the known world from 1325 C.E. to 1354 C.E., writes of his adventures.
Biography
But the next subdivision, from 920-921, biography, can be tricky for several reasons. This is where Melvil Dewey intended for biography books of all sorts to be shelved. The problem for libraries is that the average library has a lot of biographies, making it unwieldy to place them all within the regular nonfiction collection.
To solve the problem of size and to make biographies easier to browse through, libraries often have their biographies in a separate biography collection. The call number may begin with B or BIO and then be followed by the first three letters of the subject’s last name. This differs from the other nonfiction books that are arranged by the author’s last name.
This works great for patrons who want to browse the biography section just to see what’s there, or if they know the name of the person they are searching for. But what if you want to see all the biographies a library has on physicists, for instance? Because some people prefer to search for subject-specific biographies, the trend for the past several decades has been to shelve biography books in the subject area to which they belong. So, a book on Stephen Hawking would be in the 530s, which is the physics section.
To complicate things even more, some libraries place collective biographies, which have biographical sketches of more than one subject, in the 920s. But they place other biographies elsewhere. And some libraries that have begun shelving newer books in the subject areas still have older biographies shelved in the 920s.
My suggestion for dealing with these complications is to check the library catalog. That way, you will waste a minimum of time if you are in a hurry. Of course, if you have time and like to browse, just get the lay of the shelves by walking around. Ask a librarian to point you in the right direction if that helps.
History
After the biography section, the rest of the books in the 900s are history books. Ancient history books are shelved in 930-939.
After that, the history books are subdivided geographically, in the following order:
940-949 European History
950-959 Asian History
960-969 African History
970-979 Central and North American History
980-989 South American History
990-999 Oceanic, Australian, All Other Areas, and Extraterrestrial History
The history section in many public libraries is huge. Please pay your local library a visit to see what they have to offer.
Digital Sources
For the past couple of posts, we’ve covered some of the offerings of the Library of Congress. We will continue that here with collections helpful to historians and history buffs.
If you want to find original documents, LOC contains huge numbers of digital copies online. To help our nation’s schools navigate these collections, they have created extensive programs for teachers to use. You can access the teacher’s materials at Getting Started with Primary Sources.
If you’d prefer to skip the instructions and head right to the exhibits, click on Primary Source Sets. Here you’ll find information on state histories, presidents, baseball, and American authors among many other topics. One collection is devoted to Rosa Parks. Browse to your heart’s content.
Finally, the LOC has been digitizing newspapers from all over the country that date back over a hundred years. You can browse these on Collections with Newspapers to get started. To do a serious search of our national, state, and local newspapers, check out their directory.
Books from Geography, Biography, and History
These books are taken from Chapter 10, “Geography, Biography, and History” of my book Library Lin’s Curated Collection of Superlative Nonfiction.
Peter Watson, The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century (2000)
Internationally educated and recognized scholar Peter Watson covers all the significant writers, artists, scientists, and philosophers of the 20th century to provide a clear map of humanity’s journey from the 19th to the 21st century. This fascinating work covers accomplishments, ideas, schools of thought, and worldwide counter-cultural movements.
Robert Macfarlane, Landmarks (2015)
Acclaimed British nature writer Robert Macfarlane explores the way words and language shape our sense of place. Through his study of nature literature and his travels around the British Isles, Macfarlane imparts a unique way of coming to know and understand the landscape.
Mary Beard, Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures, and Innovations (2013)
Scholar Mary Beard provides essays exploring our classical heritage through stories of Roman emperors and conquerors. But she also sketches other members of society by telling their jokes and peeking into palaces and slave quarters.
Masha Gessen, The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia (2017)
American journalist Masha Gessen tells the heartbreaking and terrifying story of Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. She follows four individuals who began the era with high hopes and dreams, only to have them dashed by the brutal autocracy and mafia-state that has taken its place.
Bernard Lewis, The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years (1997)
Bernard Lewis traces the chronological history of the Middle East, from the beginnings of Christianity to the 20th century, using research from scholars and archaeologists.
Dante Paradiso, The Embassy: A Story of War and Diplomacy, (2016)
For years, Liberia was one of the most dangerous places on the planet, and its president, Charles Taylor, was a warlord. Then, in 2003, two rebel armies of militia and child soldiers marched on the capital, Monrovia, to overthrow his government. Dante Paradiso tells how the U.S. embassy aided the efforts to remove the president and tried, unsuccessfully, to stem the bloodshed.
Dina Gilio-Whitaker, As Long as the Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice From Colonization to Standing Rock (2019)
Activist and American Indian Studies scholar Dina Gilio-Whitaker looks at today’s environmental activism in light of the Indigenous peoples’ experiences with the U.S. government and their long battles for environmental justice. She focuses on the leadership of Indigenous women.
George Packer, The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America (2013)
Journalist George Packer gives insight into how we got to the current crisis in America. He looks at the lives of ordinary men and women in the Rust Belt and the Deep South, at Beltway insiders, Silicon Valley billionaires, and political and entertainment figures and what they all reveal about the unraveling of our nation’s institutions.
Sue and Patrick Cunningham, Spirit of the Amazon: The Indigenous Tribes of the Xingu (2019)
Photojournalist Sue Cunningham works with writer Patrick Cunningham to provide this portrait of the Xingu peoples of the Amazon rainforest. After spending more than three decades befriending them, the Cunninghams have access to 48 of their villages. By examining their spiritual relationship with the Earth, the duo provides alternatives to the nature-deprived lives most of us live.
Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia’s Founding, (1988)
Robert Hughes traces the history of the British in Australia. After looking at its exploration and founding as a penal colony, he details the brutality of the convict transportation system and the early days of settlement. Finally, he considers the effects of these early events on the nation that later developed.
Linda Maxie is a retired librarian passionate about good books. She is the author of Library Lin’s Curated Collection of Superlative Nonfiction and her blog, The Nonfiction Section. You can contact her at https://librarylin.com.
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