Advantages/Disadvantages

A simple breakdown of the Dewey Decimal System

Advantages:

• The Dewey Decimal System is a universal system in that it uses numerical notation opposed to words or letters. This makes it much easier to use for areas across the word that may have a different alphabet/language.

• Topics are listed/classified by subject. This makes it easy for the reader to narrow down what they are looking for an find it quickly. (shouldn't that be the goal of a classification system?)

• This system makes shelving books and locating books within a library very simple. You simply locate the number of the book you are looking for and you find it within the library.

Disadvantages:

• 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 Numbers - it is noted that people have a fear of the complexity of the number system and that this has been said to turn people away from using this otherwise simple system. The numbers do not have a direct correlation with the subject they represent, therefore if you are not familiar with the system it may be difficult for you to use.

Like all things in life, there are going to be advantages and disadvantages. We as people get to chose whether or not we are able to out weigh the good with the bad or we avoid the situation, whatever it may be. So it is your choice whether you can see past the difficulties in using The Dewey Decimal System.