The DDC 780 at a crossroads between old and new times: a few remarks

Abstract

The general structure of the division 780 stayed unchanged until when an epoch-making event marked the switch from DDC19 (1979) to DDC20 (1989).
In 1971 - short after the publishing of the DDC18 - the Dewey Decimal Classification Subcommittee of the British Library Association was asked to report to the Forest Press executive manager as which tables to consider for a complete revision work : in the list of priorities produced by the Commission the division 780 was ranking first. The main reason for this was found to be due to the general dissatisfacion of librarians who were complaining about three serious shortcomings in the general layout of the table dedicated to music:

• no distinctions were made between music (i.e. scores, recordings) and the existing literature on music;
• the poor attention attached to musical traditions that differed from the western tradition;
• the non-recognition of the "composer" tag as first classification element for studies on music.

In 1975 the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee discussed the first draft version of the new table 780. During the years that followed the new table underwent the scrutiny of the librarian community, some the suggestions were made and then adopted by the working group. The final version of the new table 780 was approved by the Editorial Policy Committee in the month of April 1979, that is too late to include it in the 19th edition of the DDC. It was then decided to publish the table separately, in a provisional form, in 1980. The DDC20 was finally introducing in its main tables the division 780 as the Phoenix schedule , that is to say as something new, with very few references to the previous 780 editions, yet with relevant changes with respect to the Proposed revision by Sweeney and Clews.