Which Dewey Decimal Category Are You?
April 14, 2014 1:05 AM   Subscribe

We know you love your library! Ever wonder what it would be like to become a book? Where would you be in the library? Which Dewey Decimal [hundred] number would you be given? Take this quiz to find out!
posted by paleyellowwithorange (57 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
"You got the 000's - Generalities!" [The exclamation point was theirs.]

Is this like where my saved Tivo represents my aspirations and not that I get horizontal, unbuckle my belt, eat Cheetos, and watch "That 70's Show"?
posted by vapidave at 1:38 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


The 900's. That's accurate to be creepy.
posted by jsavimbi at 1:40 AM on April 14, 2014


The 300s -- stodgy, but I had only those questions to work with.

Now give me headings and a Cutter Number!
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:52 AM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]


Yes, the 800s is essentially me. And about a billion other people. It's a good horoscope machine.

(But they don't need those questions to know about us. It's running on an NSA server. They know your purchase history. They know your browser history. They get a copy of your browser history in the mail every time you decide to clear your browser history. They know what you do when you switch your browser to anonymous mode for a few minutes. They are looking at your face right now and becoming aroused.)
posted by pracowity at 2:00 AM on April 14, 2014 [4 favorites]


500 - natural sciences! Quick, tell me my spirit animal.
posted by arcticseal at 2:11 AM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]


000 - surprisingly accurate, given that I found the questions fairly limiting. I was sure they were going to try to peg me as some kind of technology nerd.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:19 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]


So if these questions give us the first digit, then theoretically six times as many questions could pin us down to three decimal places, right? That'd be a far more interesting quiz...

(025.431)
posted by NMcCoy at 2:33 AM on April 14, 2014 [9 favorites]


000 - surprisingly accurate,

General knowledge is always accurate. Well, generally.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:50 AM on April 14, 2014


It says I would be stamped "withdrawn."

I kid; it seems pracowity and I are shelved in the same room.
posted by datawrangler at 3:24 AM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]


I was sure they were going to try to peg me as some kind of technology nerd

You want the Dewey Hexadecimal System, which costs extra.
posted by thelonius at 3:27 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]


800s. Which is where I spent most of my time in the stacks at uni so that seems fitting.
posted by milkcrateman at 3:32 AM on April 14, 2014


Back when I was a public library book slave, we'd do this with each other. If someone came in for work in an inappropriately good mood or gave Pollyanna advice they'd be dismissed as "oh, you're so 158.2 this morning!"* A particularly creepy customer would be a 364.1523.^ Good times.

* Self help books
^ True crime
posted by Sonny Jim at 3:37 AM on April 14, 2014 [22 favorites]


Reader, I married her.*

*Not the creepy customer, obviously.
posted by Sonny Jim at 3:41 AM on April 14, 2014 [6 favorites]


Z682 .M43 1978
BECAUSE I TOOK A GODDAMN CATALOGING CLASS
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:54 AM on April 14, 2014 [39 favorites]


Mine is right there in my name. I don't even need to look it up.
posted by teleri025 at 4:56 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


But I'm fictional.
posted by kyrademon at 5:17 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


Dewey decimal is a spawn of Hades. Real cataloging is exclusively library of congress, though I'm most impressed by the people who have the patience to sort their bookshelves by color.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:17 AM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]


800s. No surprise.
posted by JanetLand at 5:18 AM on April 14, 2014


900s. Dead on.
posted by cooker girl at 5:27 AM on April 14, 2014


300s, though I confess that I had largely forgotten the main Dewey categories.
posted by jquinby at 5:30 AM on April 14, 2014


Too many of the questions didn't have an answer that fit for me. I guess I'm a book that doesn't get added to the collection?
posted by Thorzdad at 5:33 AM on April 14, 2014


There should be a category of all books that have no category.
posted by jquinby at 5:42 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


a category of all books that have no category

They don't got no Dewey Decimal in that Library of Babel.
posted by Segundus at 5:55 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]


500s yo
posted by threeants at 6:08 AM on April 14, 2014


No, those books get the first number that cannot be expressed in seventeen syllables.
posted by thelonius at 6:09 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


The 200s. Go figure.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:24 AM on April 14, 2014


I'm a Library of Congress person, myself.
posted by goethean at 6:25 AM on April 14, 2014


I couldn't get the quiz to work in my browser so I moseyed on over to the LC to see if my initials fit anything interesting. But alas, the people who came up with the Library of Congress classification apparently don't like the letter"w", so I was out of luck there too. I guess I just dont fit in any library.
posted by TedW at 6:35 AM on April 14, 2014


Ever wonder what it would be like to become a book?

um I'm going to go home now...I've had a great night though, seriously! I'll call you
posted by threeants at 6:36 AM on April 14, 2014 [8 favorites]


900s -eerily spot on.
posted by mroben at 6:39 AM on April 14, 2014


Well, it said 800's but I think I cheated on the "How would you spend a beautiful day?" one.

...

Took it again. Said I would surf the web instead of nature walk. Chose Hues Corporation over Sister Sledge. Now, I'm 000's.

It's like it knows me!!~
posted by Trochanter at 6:48 AM on April 14, 2014


I love that (presumably because this is a librarian so she is thoughtful and careful about these things) all of the pictures have clear attribution and information on the license under which they are being used.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 6:59 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]


it's a beautiful day, how are you spending it

i'm going to go scenic drive so i can pick all six

which of these notable people

MLK easy choice but amelia, her bones probably hidden by large subterranean crabs, and they flash that V sign with their claws...it's like they're sculptors

which movie would i be willing to watch tonight?

Amphitheatrum Flavium probably Rudy

My friend would describe me as caring...and i drive a saturn with a trunk full of ice cold beer

Gotta go with sister sledge...reminds me of pittsburgh

Doctor...like a brad dourif doctor...

Charity...

throwback...

300 Social Science As far as library of congress, i always thought of myself as a WWZ guy
posted by sirlikeitalot at 7:08 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


I filled in the questions and now I owe the website £15.22 in late fees.
posted by longbaugh at 7:10 AM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]


Out of the infinite and ever-changing possibilities available to you as a human being, the first question offers you six choice.


Six.



I go no further, for I am not a number; I am a free man. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered.

 
posted by Herodios at 7:18 AM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]


A friend of mine, a librarian, has my absolute favorite tattoo - the Library of Congress classification number for local history, United States, New York, the town he's from, etc. I'm not sure how it's exactly broken down. It's where he, if he were a book, would be shelved. I thought that's what this quiz was going to be and I'm a little disappointed.
posted by troika at 7:26 AM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]


i made a typo it's caring not charity but...they share similarities...now hey if i was a book i would be a roof...and also a bird...kind of like the album art in...batman...u2...it's the batcave and there's a giant bat shadow, over a gold baby bat sculpture...batman reminds me of the plato's cave parable...anyway...
posted by sirlikeitalot at 7:33 AM on April 14, 2014


"You got 800's - Literature! You are a true bookworm! "
posted by doctornemo at 7:34 AM on April 14, 2014


The 800s stacks is certainly where I've spent a lot of library time, both for personal purposes and because when I was a library assistant in college, I was about the only person not driven mad by the constant disarray in the children's literature section. It became my beat, which was great, because everyone expected it to take forever to deal with. So when I got sent up there I could basically just disappear up there for a shift, and read a ton of my old favorite books.
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:42 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


On hold.
posted by grateful at 7:59 AM on April 14, 2014


I suppose, that, for most of us, given our "Last Name Classification System (LNCS)," we are organized most like the SuDoc system with our issuing agencies central to the scheme.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:27 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


i wish i was shelved near greatbigmulp. frameroom? i love that guy
posted by sirlikeitalot at 8:37 AM on April 14, 2014


000s. yup.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:44 AM on April 14, 2014


I thought that's what this quiz was going to be and I'm a little disappointed.

Really simplified, but if you go here you can get your LC subject heading. Use something you are passionate about or do professionally and scroll down on the result to find the LC Classification number. You can double check this against a library catalog that uses LC to find a book that sums up your identity. You only want the first line of the call number (D56, Z682, etc).

Next is the cutter, the second line that starts with a '.' It's based on your last name (or the last name of your parent if you want to go with who, like, authored you) and can be looked up here.

Final line is your publication date, so the year you were born.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:17 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]


600s, applied sciences! How apt...
posted by Renoroc at 9:21 AM on April 14, 2014


000-Generalities. Excellent. I think many librarians would fit into that category.

I confess I went over to the DDC 21 books on my office bookshelf and looked up the number so coyly presented by NMcCoy above, (025.431). If I had bothered to catalog my DDC books, I would have known before opening Vol. 2 what that number is: It's the number for works about the Dewey Decimal Classification itself. How titillatingly recursive...
posted by gillyflower at 10:00 AM on April 14, 2014


400s, Languages.

While I was doing this, EasyBib recommended that I read the Bible. o_O
posted by divabat at 10:28 AM on April 14, 2014


I am feeling that the "Which [blank] in/of [blank] are you?" meme has just about run its course. Or at least I hope so.
posted by Danf at 10:33 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


900s- Why yes, I do enjoy a good map.
posted by calamari kid at 10:35 AM on April 14, 2014


900s. Which explains the stack of obscure, out-of-print local history books on my dining room table.
posted by apartment dweller at 10:50 AM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]


I want my three minutes back.
posted by cromagnon at 11:39 AM on April 14, 2014


200s. Not at all accurate, but not surprising given the terrible choices for music, how my friends describe me, vacation destinations etc.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:03 PM on April 14, 2014


I'd hope to be in the LCC if I wasn't already a work of ragged fiction.
posted by sonascope at 2:19 PM on April 14, 2014


900's - bang-on. I am a remote sensing geographer with a major interest in sociology. Creepily accurate.
posted by NorthernAutumn at 3:51 PM on April 14, 2014


000s, which is appropriate given that I am a Librarian. I'm glad I'm not a 300. That's the most all-over-the place class. Fairy tales AND transportation!
posted by Biblio at 6:31 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


I am multitudes.
posted by unliteral at 10:35 PM on April 14, 2014


I was a little stumped when it offered me the option of going to England. Does already being in England imply something about your shelving category? Near the Wisdens and the Jane Austen? Far away from the cooking and dentistry sections?
posted by Segundus at 1:49 AM on April 15, 2014


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