West Indian Americans and Dominican Americans

In trying to determine numbers for some Mount Miguel books about 1) West Indian Americans and 2) Dominican Americans, we looked at some numbers previously used at El Capitan:

Cuban Americans = 973.04687291
Puerto-Rican Americans = 973.04687295

Here is a breakdown of these numbers:
973 (United States)
+ 04 (Ethnic and national groups v. 3, p. 858)
+ 68 (Spanish Americans, v. 1, p. 666)
+ 7291 (Cuba, v. 1, p. 422) / 7295 (Puerto Rico, v. 1, p. 424)

Following this logic, some possible numbers are:
West Indian Americans = 973.0468729
Dominican Americans = 973.04687293

The Black Death

In processing The Black Death (from the "Pivotal Moments in History" series) by Diane Zahler (082259076X) for MVHS, I noticed that there is a mix of call numbers currently being used for The Black Death. Understandably, books may differ in emphasis from more scientific to more historical. Nonetheless, I figured it's a good topic to look into. Here are the numbers that are currently being used:

• 362.1969 = 362 Social welfare problems and services + .1 Physical illness + .19 Services to patients with specific conditions + .196 Specific conditions + .1969 Other diseases
• 614.45732 = 614.4 Incidence of and public measures to prevent specific diseases and kinds + .45 = Patient isolation + ?
• 614.4/9/4 = 614.4 Incidence of and public measures to prevent specific diseases and kinds + .49 History of epidemics + 614.494 Europe
• 614.5/732 = 614.5 Incidence and public measures to prevent specific disease and kinds of diseases + 614.57 Bacterial diseases + .573 Bacterial diseases + .923 Pasteurella infections, yersinia infections, chlamydia infections, tularemia + .5732 Plague
• 616.9232 = 616 Diseases + .9 Other Diseases + .92 Bacterial diseases + .923 Pasteurella infections, yersinia infections, chlamydia infections, tularemia + .9232 Plague
• 940.14 = 940 History of Europe + .1 Early history to 1453 + .14 Age of feudalism, 800-1099
• 940.1/92 = 940 History of Europe + .1 Early history to 1453 + .19 1300-1453 + .192 1300-1399 (Including period of Black Death)
• 942.038 = 942 England and Wales + .03 Period of House of Plantagenet, 1154-1399 + .038 Reign of Richard II, 1377-1399

Yet again, every book may have a specific slant that explains placement in one number over another. It just seems like many of them may have enough in common to be grouped more closely together. 940.192 makes a lot of sense for a historical number since it specifically includes the period of Black Death. These other numbers also seem very valid: 614.494 614.5732, and 616.9262! I think any of these 4 could be good matches and so I guess I'll stick to the recommended number for the book: 614.5732. This may be a good area for people to check in their own collections, though.

Navajo

Inspired by the ECVHS book A Rainbow at Night: The World in Words and Pictures by Navajo Children by Bruce Hucko (0811812944). The publisher assigned number is 973'.04972, but this number seems to be mostly unused in our district.

Instead, Native American books seem to have been given some of the following numbers:

• A general 970 number for "History of North America." This seems much too broad to me.
• 970.004 for "Ethnic and national groups" in general in North America. This still seems a little broad to me.
• 970.00497 for "general history and civilization of North American native peoples in North America." This number has the specificity of native peoples and would be be good for Native Americans in general, but doesn't seem to be right if you want to distinguish specific groups. Plus, it violates the "no more than 4 digits right of the decimal" rule that some schools use.
• 970.1, which is an optional number for "North American native peoples"
• 970.3, which is an optional number for "Specific native peoples"

They are all slight variations and the DDC guide seems to draw distinctions in number usage based on how specific books are with regard to particular group, time period, and location. So, for now I guess I'll go with what seems to be most commonly used in our district: 970.3.

Pyramids

I was just processing a book for ECVHS about pyramids from around the world, Pyramids by Charles George (1601520271). The publisher assigned number is 909 for world history, but this seems way too broad and that the book would just get buried (no pun intended) there. Since it features pyramids from more than just Egypt, it can't take a 932 number. In looking in our catalog, it looks like people have also used 726.8, an architecture number for mortuary chapels and tombs. Another number is 690.68, which is also for mortuary chapels and tombs, but from the discipline of building planning, engineering, construction, etc. I decided to spring for 726.8.