New Dewey Browser collections

There are two new databases that can be viewed via the Dewey Browser.  Previously we just had the e-books from WorldCat.  Now you can also search a database of 2.2 million of the most widely held WorldCat records, and, possibly even more interesting, selected data from the Abridged version of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC).  Note the Collection list in the bar:

at the top of the screen that lets you select which database you want to look at.

The abridged version has 4,300 categories, rather than the 30,000+ in the full Dewey (of course DDC numbers can be built up from various tables in the classification to give an unlimited number of possibilities, even from the abridged).  We think this should be useful; the abridged DDC covers a lot of topics and there are 36,000 terms leading you to the classes.  Try looking for peat bogs.  You should see that there is a topic in Earth sciences (551.41 Geomorphology) and one in Life sciences (578.768 Riparian biology).  The DDC does a good job of pointing out different aspects of a topic and leading you to a useful classification of it.

Disclaimer: I had little or nothing to do with getting these new collections up.  Diane and Harry share the primary responsibility for this.

--Th