A Guide to Localizing Dewey, for Long Island Use
Yielding More Effective, Faster Access to Localized Histories on Book Shelves
Giovanni da Verrazano John Winthrop, Jr. Wm. Floyd,, Signer Fort St. George Daniel Webster & the Demon Trout
Geographic Subdivision of Four L.I. Dewey Decimal Numbers
In Patchogue-Medford Library’s Long Island Reference Collection
As Adopted & in Use by the
PML Celia M. Hastings Local History Room
(Last revised, 9-6-06)
Created, compiled, & edited by Mark Rothenberg, Historian
Reviewed & honed with the PML Cataloging Administration & Staff
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The 4 Subject Areas Affected (&Their Dewey Decimal Numbers)
n 974.721 - Long Island [regional histories, bi-county & 4-county]
n 974.724 - Queens County [including today's Nassau County’s, until separated, in 1899]
n 974.7245 - Nassau County [after separated from Queens,1899, Queens Borough joining NYC]
n 974.725 - Suffolk County [earlier East Riding of Yorkshire, 17th century]
BASICS OF THE REVISED SHELF REORGANIZATION
CODE TYPE OF HISTORIES
R-LI – L.I. Regional Histories [R-LI-2 = bicounty; or R-LI-4 = also adds Kings & Queens Co.]
CO- L.I. County Histories [followed by SUFF(olk) or NASS(au)]
[Note: Kings County, and most Queens County histories are in the NY REF. collection]
I- L.I. Island Histories
[i.e., histories of smaller, “satellite” or "outer" islands surrounding Long Island,
e.g., Gardiners, Fire, Fishers, Great Gull, Robins Islands]
T- L.I. Town Histories & Records [
[Note: In NYS, Towns are large political/geographical areas, within counties. Towns usually include many villages.]
V- L.I. Village Histories
[Individual villages (incorporated or unincorporated); also including 2 cities in Nassau Co.]
VGP - Customary L.I. Village Groupings' Histories
[E.g., Three Village area, Five Towns, The Islips, The Moriches, The Hamptons]
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Why We Bothered
For local history purposes, the ordinarily helpful, Dewey Decimal Classification System fails to be more specific than the county level, and makes no distinction between the 2 basic varieties of L.I. regional works: bi-county, i.e., Nassau-Suffolk (or Long Island proper), and 4-county, i.e., Suffolk-Nassau-Queens-Kings (or the entire island, including the 2 L.I. Boroughs of .N.Y.C.). Worse, the histories & records produced by individual counties, towns, villages and L.I.'s many outer islands were all lumped together without distinction. Their traditional arrangement on the shelves was not user-friendly, not organized geographically, but by author or title, compounding the scatter; and most local history books mainly refer to a specific geographic area (whether large or small). When the computer catalog was down, well you get the picture. Also people often ask for everything we have on a particular Town, village, or traditionally named cluster of villages (e.g., Three Village area) or island (e.g., Robins Island), whether for historical research, student projects, a newspaper article, a background for a book, or a genealogy, or some other purpose. The main problem area was confined to the 4 Dewey Decimal Numbers listed above. It became obvious that something original needed to be developed to improve access to these materials. The solution was a way to regroup the books under geographic codes, and, within these, a set of abbreviated place names. The result has been faster, more efficient, more effective service and increased public use of the collection.
Ongoing Method & Purpose: Celia M. Hastings Local History Room staff work with the PML Cataloging Department, to ensure consistent application of this organizational scheme, occasionally add a new place name abbreviation, to promote improved geographically-oriented access to Local History material: (a) for patrons’ greater research convenience, freeing more of their time for study, (b) to permit ease of browsing and continuous service, even when the library catalog is down, and (c) to help librarians relatively unfamiliar with the collection, familiarize themselves with it, and provide service, more readily.
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Place Name Abbreviations (A Few Quick Things to Know)
· Every Suffolk & Nassau County place name in use, has an assigned abbreviation.
· Assignment of abbreviations is only somewhat arbitrary, generally following old library place name codes. (Note: As a Title may or may not reflect its content, favor the content, or geographic emphasis when assigning a geographic abbreviation)
· Place name abbreviations are mnemonic (i.e., they “sound like” what they represent), e.g.: T- [for Town], V- [for Village]; V-PATCH [for village of Patchogue]
· Place names, as they appear on the shelf, are fairly alphabetic, variations being due to the (not strictly alphabetic) shorthand used for places, needed to fit them easily on a the spine label of a book. Look on the shelf under the initial letter of the place, you and you should find the place name you seek fairly quickly. If not, a complete list of place name abbreviations appears in the Main Geographic Directory (below).
· Place name abbreviations appear on a book’s spine label, below the Dewey Decimal Number, immediately after one of the Geographic Codes, (listed above): E.g., T-BROO means the Town of Brookhaven, while V-BRKHV means the village of the same name.
· Defunct historic place names are generally avoided, in favor of current place names; e.g., Lindenhurst (V-LNDNH), the current name is used, instead of its pre-WWI name, Breslau (discarded during following anti-German riots); the 19th century Fourier-type utopian community name, Modern Times, is discarded in favor of the modern village name, Brentwood (V-BRNTW).
The Main Geographic Directory
n REGION-wide [4-County and Bi-County] (R-LI-)
n R-LI-4 = works about the Suffolk-Nassau-Queens-Kings Region, i.e., all of Long Island (including its 2 NYC boroughs)
n R-LI-2 = works about the Suffolk-Nassau Region
n COUNTY-wide (CO-)
n Suffolk County, N.Y. [CO-SUFF]
n Nassau County, N.Y. [CO-NASS]
n Note: Works solely about Kings &/ or Queens are in N.Y. REF.
n TOWN-wide (10 towns of Suffolk; 3 towns of Nassau) (T-)
n Note: In N.Y.S., towns are large geographic subdivisions of counties, governmental entities, including incorporated & unincorporated villages, & occasionally cities.
n The 10 Towns of Suffolk County:
n Babylon [T-BABL]
n Brookhaven [T-BROO]
n East Hampton [T-EHAM]
n Huntington [T-HUNT]
n Islip [T-ISLP]
n Riverhead [T-RIVR]
n Shelter Island [T-SHIS]
n Smithtown [T-SMTH]
n Southampton [T-SHTM]
n Southold [North Fork filed here] [T-SOHD]
Note: General works on Suffolk's South Fork are grouped under VGP-Hamptons (below)
General works on Suffolk's East End are currently listed under CO-SUFF, unless the North
Fork, Hamptons, or a particular Town or Village predominates in the content of the work.
When in doubt, follow the classification that will make the work accessible for practical use that
best reflects its geographic scope.
n The 3 Towns of Nassau County:
n Hempstead [T-HEMP]
n North Hempstead [T-NHEM]
n Oyster Bay [T-OYBY]
n ISLANDS (I-) (Long Island’s Adjoining Islands)
n Captree Island [I-CAPTRE]
n Ball Island [I-BALL]
n Big Crow Island [I-BCROW]
n Black Banks Island [I-BLBNK]
n Clam Island [I-CLAM]
n Fire Island [I-FIRE]
n Fishers Island [I-FISHR]
n Gardiners Island [I-GDNR]
n Gids Island [I-GIDS]
n Grass Island [I-GRASS]
n Great Gull Island [I-GTGUL]
n Oak Island [I-OAK]
n Plum Island [I-PLUM]
n Robins Island [I-ROBN]
n Shelter Island
See Towns ŕ Shelter Island
n Star Island [I-STAR]
n Water Island [I-WATR]
n West Fire Island [I-FIREW]
n VILLAGE GROUPINGS (VGP-)
n Note: Here, you’ll find histories of villages customarily clustered under a common name; see also under names of individual villages, below
n Five Towns [VGP-5TWN]
n The Hamptons ( same as South Fork) [VGP-HMTN]
n The Islips [VGP-ISLPS]
n The Merricks [VGP-MRKS]
n Middle Island-Coram-Yaphank-Ridge [VGP-MICYR]
See also under names of the individual villages
n The Moriches [VGP-MRCH]
n Three Village Area [VGP-3VILL]
n VILLAGES (V-)
n Under these headings, you’ll find histories of individual Incorporated & Unincorporated Villages, & the 2 Nassau County Cities; see also under names of customarily grouped villages VGP’s, above
n Amagansett [V-AMAG]
n Amityville [V-AMITY]
n Aquebogue [V-AQBOG]
n Asharoken [V-ASHRK]
See also V-EATON
n Babylon [V-BABLN]
n Baiting Hollow [V-BTGHL]
n Bald Hills See [V-FRMVL]
n Baldwin [V-BALDW]
n Bay Shore [V-BYSHR]
n Bayview [V-BYVW]
n Bayport [V-BYPRT]
n Bellmore [V-BLMR]
n Bellport [V-BLLPRT]
n Belle Harbor [V-BLHRB]
n Belle Terre [V-BLTER]
n Bethpage [V-BTHPG]
n Blue Point [V-BLUPT]
n Bohemia [V-BOHM]
n Boomertown See [V-STJAS]
n Brentwood (formerly Modern Times) [V-BRNTW]
n Breslau See Lindenhurst [V-LNDNH]
n Bridgehampton [V-BRIDG]
n Brightwaters [V-BRIGHT]
n Brookhaven [V-BRKHV]
n Brookville [V-BRKVL]
n Bungtown See [V-CSH]
n Carle Place [V-CARLE]
n Cedarhurst [V-CEDAR]
n Center Moriches [V-CMOR]
n Centereach [V-CREACH]
n Centerport [V-CPORT]
See also Greenlawn [V-GRNLN]
n Central Islip [V-CISLIP]
n Cherry Grove [V-CHERY]
n Cold Spring Harbor [V-CSH]
n Commack [V-CMMK]
n Coram [V-CORAM]
See also [VGP-MICYR]
n Cove Neck [V-COVNK]
n Cutchogue [V-CUTCH]
n Deer Park [V-DEER]
n Dix Hills [V-DIXH]
n Dering Harbor [V-DERGH]
n East Farmingdale [V-EFRMD]
n East Hampton [V-EHAM]
n East Islip [V-EISLIP]
n East Meadow [V-EMDW]
n East Moriches [V-EMOR]
n East Northport [V-ENPRT]
n East Norwich [V-ENRWC]
n East Patchogue [V-EPATCH]
n East Quogue [V-EQUOG]
n East Rockaway [V-EROCK]
n East Williston [V-EWLST]
n Eastport [V-EPRT]
n Eaton’s Neck [V-EATON]
See also Asharoken [V-ASHRK]
n Edgewood [V-EDGWD]
n Elmont [V-ELMNT]
n Fair Harbor [V-FRHRBR]
n Farmingdale [V-FRMDL]
See also East Farmingdale [V-EFRMD]
n Farmingville [V-FRMVL]
n Flanders [V-FLNDRS]
n Floral Park [V-FLRLPK]
n Flowerfield [V-FLWRFL]
n Fort Salonga [V-FTSLNG]
n Freeport [V-FREPRT]
n Garden City [V-GDNCT]
n Glen Cove (city) [V-GLNCV]
n Glen Head [V-GLNHD]
n Glenwood [V-GLNWD]
n Good Ground [V-GDGRND]
n Gordon Heights [V-GDNHT]
n Great Neck [V-GTNK]
n Great Neck Estates [V-GTNKE]
n Great River [V-GTRIVR]
n Greenlawn [V-GRNLN]
See also Centerport [V-CPORT]
n Greenport [V-GRNPRT]
n Greenvale [V-GRNVL]
n Halesite [V-HALSIT]
n Hallockville [V-HALKVL]
n Hampton Bays [V-HMBY]
n Hauppauge [V-HAUP]
n Head of the Harbor [V-HDHBR]
n Hempstead [V-HMSTD]
n Hewlett Bay Park [V-HWBY]
n Hicksville [V-HICKS]
n Holbrook [V-HLBRK]
n Holtsville [V-HLTSVL]
n Huntington [V-HUNT]
n Huntington Station [V-HUNTS]
n Inwood &n