Editing Dewey Decimal Classification (section)

===1942–present: forging an identity===
[[File:Edmonton Librarian teaching students about the Dewey Decimal System (32848929670).jpg|thumb|right|Children being taught the top-level categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification system at a library in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in the 1960s]]
The growth of the classification to date had led to significant criticism from medium and large libraries which were too large to use the abridged edition but found the full classification overwhelming. Dewey had intended issuing the classification in three editions: the library edition, which would be the fullest edition; the bibliographic edition, in English and French, which was to be used for the organization of bibliographies rather than of books on the shelf; and the abridged edition.<ref>{{harvp|Comaromi|1976|p=381}}</ref> In 1933, the bibliographic edition became the [[Universal Decimal Classification]], which left the library and abridged versions as the formal Dewey Decimal Classification editions. The 15th edition, edited by [[Milton J. Ferguson|Milton Ferguson]], implemented the growing concept of the "standard edition", designed for the majority of general libraries but not attempting to satisfy the needs of the very largest or of special libraries.<ref>{{harvp|Comaromi|1976|p=345}}</ref> It also reduced the size of the Dewey system by over half, from 1,900 to 700 pages. This revision was so radical that an advisory committee was formed right away for the 16th and 17th editions.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Historical Development of The Dewey Decimal Classification System|last=COMAROMI|first=JOHN P.|hdl = 2142/1778|isbn = 9780878450442|publisher = Graduate School of Library Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.|year = 1975}}</ref> The 16th and 17th editions, under the editorship of the Library of Congress, grew again to two volumes. However, by then, the Dewey Decimal system had established itself as a classification for general libraries, with the Library of Congress Classification having gained acceptance for large research libraries.<ref>{{harvp|Chan|2007|pp=321–323}}</ref>

The first electronic version of "Dewey" was created in 1993.<ref>{{cite journal|last= Trotter|first= Ross|title= Electronic Dewey: The CD-ROM Version of the Dewey Decimal Classification|journal= [[Cataloging & Classification Quarterly]]|date= 6 July 1995|volume= 19|issue= 3–4|pages= 213–234|doi= 10.1300/J104v19n03_17}}</ref> Hard-copy editions continue to be issued at intervals; the online WebDewey and Abridged WebDewey are updated quarterly.<ref name=isibang>
{{cite web |last=Majumder |first=Apurba Jyoti |author2=Gautam Sarma |title=Webdewey: The Dewey Decimal Classification in The Web |publisher=[[INFLIBNET Centre]], Ahmedabad, Planner |date= December 2007
|url=https://ir.inflibnet.ac.in/ir/bitstream/1944/1047/1/16.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609190039/http://ir.inflibnet.ac.in/ir/bitstream/1944/1047/1/16.pdf |archive-date=2016-06-09 |url-status=live |access-date=April 25, 2022}}
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