Reasons why there won’t be a new Italian translation of the <em>DDC abridged edition</em>, and why we should use WebDewey instead

Abstract

The reason why there won’t be an Italian translation of the Dewey Decimal Classification 23^rd print edition is that the Italian publisher – the Italian Library Association – chose to publish the Italian translation of the WebDewey instead. The DDC abridged edition is very popular in Italian public libraries, yet its translation implies a long and demanding job, and its use isn’t recommended for collections exceeding 20.000 items. On the other hand, WebDewey provides for each number a segmentation mark: thus the DDC complete notation can be used in the catalog while the shorter notation can be used for call numbers. After a costs/benefits evaluation, the Italian editorial board of DDC decided to make an investment to update WebDewey, encouraging Italian public libraries to use it in place of the DDC abridged edition.