The evolution of DCC auxiliary tables: history, usage and development of an essential collaborative tool to classify library resources

Abstract

The essay shows the historical evolution of the profile of the Dewey Decimal Classification’s auxiliary tables. Essential to express the specificity and completeness of classified concepts, the auxiliary tables expanded and specialized over time to allow an increasingly stronger degree of specificity and consistency in the construction of the classification numbers. Since the first edition of 1876 to WebDewey, the auxiliary tables have been the parts of the Dewey Decimal Classification which developed more and had a more detailed review, as they include peculiar information of the individual countries, such as the geographical areas, ethnic and national groups and historical periods.