DDC Breakdown

Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme

The Dewey Decimal System was developed by librarian and educator Melvil Dewey. Initially copyrighted by Dewey in 1876, the Dewey Decimal System, also known as “Dewey Decimal Classification” or “DDC”, is now a trademark of OCLC.

The Dewey Decimal System is made up of ten primary categories, represented by numbers 0 through 9. Each category is then subdivided further in accordance with the depth and breadth of the given subject.

Below are the ten primary categories with their second-degree topic breakdowns. If you would like to further explore these topics in more detail, there are several resources you may use to do so, such as OCLC's DDC Summary.

000 GENERAL WORKS
020 Library and Information Science
030 General Encyclopedias
050 General Periodicals
060 General Organizations

100 PHILOSOPHY
110 Metaphysics
130 Psychology, occultism
140 Philosophy
150 Psychology
160 Logic

200 RELIGION
220 The Bible
230 Christian Doctrine
290 Comparative and Other Religions

300 SOCIAL SCIENCES
310 Statistics
320 Political Science
330 Economics
340 Law
350 Public Administration, Military Science
360 Social Welfare
370 Education
380 Public Services
390 Customs and Folklore

400 SCIENCES
410 Linguistics
420 English and Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
430 German and related languages
440 French and related Romance languages
450 Italian, Dalmatian, Romanian, Rhaetian, Sardinian, Corsican
460 Spanish, Portuguese, Galician
470 Latin and related Italic languages
480 Classical Greek and related Hellenic languages
490 Other languages

500 NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS
510 Mathematics
520 Astronomy
530 Physics
540 Chemistry
550 Earth sciences
560 Paleontology
570 Biology
580 Plants
590 Zoology

600 TECHNOLOGY & APPLIED SCIENCES
610 Medicine and health
620 Engineering and allied operations
630 Agriculture and related technologies
640 Home and family management
650 Management and auxiliary services
660 Chemical engineering and related technologies
670 Manufacturing
680 Manufacture of products for specific uses
690 Construction of buildings

700 ARTS & RECREATION
710 Area planning and landscape architecture
720 Architecture
730 Sculpture
740 Drawing and decorative arts
750 Painting
760 Printmaking
770 Photography, computer art, cinematography, videography
780 Music
790 Recreational and performing arts

800 LITERATURE & RHETORIC
810 American literature in English
820 English and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) literatures
830 German literature and literatures of related languages
840 French literature and literatures of related Romance languages
850 Literatures of Italian, Dalmatian, Romanian, Rhaetian, Sardinian, Corsican languages
860 Literatures of Spanish, Portuguese, Galician languages
870 Latin literature and literatures of related Italic languages
880 Classical Greek and related Hellenic languages
890 Other language

900 HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY
910 Geography and travel
920 Biography, genealogy, insignia
930 History of ancient world to ca. 499
940 History of Europe
950 History of Asia
960 History of Africa
970 History of North America
980 History of South America
990 History of Australasia, Pacific Ocean islands, Atlantic Ocean islands, Arctic islands, Antarctica, extraterrestrial worlds