On 30/06/05, dpbsmith@verizon.net dpbsmith@verizon.net wrote:
Anyway, it seems to me that librarians must deal with this sort of thing all the time. And the many public libraries that use the Dewey Decimal system can't just fall back on the Library of Congress. Although perhaps there's some central authority that recommends Dewey classifications. But in any case, someone has to decide whether Velikovsky is science or science fiction. Who does? and how?
Dewey is in fact controlled by a very strong central organisation - you should see the money they charge! <g> It's currently in the 22nd edition, of four hefty hardbound volumes; one a guide to implementing, two detailed references, and a voluminous index; even then, you still find quite impressive ambiguities.
If you want, I can go and have a look at the weekend and see if it discusses the classification of such books; it'd be interesting to note what, if anything, it has to say.
[And as a sidenote - I have done guerrilla reshelving in the past, I confess...]