National Library of Sweden to adopt Dewey
The National Library of Sweden has announced a decision to switch from SAB, the Swedish classification system, to the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system. SAB has been used at the National Library since 1921. The decision was approved on November 21 by National Librarian Gunnar Sahlin on the advice and recommendation of the national advisory board. Magdalena Svanberg, Executive Officer of the Department of National Co-operation, notes that additional libraries in Sweden are expected to make a similar decision.
Switching to the DDC will make international cooperation easier—the National Library of Sweden will be able to take advantage of Dewey numbers already available in bibliographic records and contribute Dewey numbers in records that represent unique bibliographic contributions from the National Library.
Earlier this year, the National Library of Sweden and OCLC began to load the Swedish National Bibliography into WorldCat—the initial load included 1.9 million bibliographic records and more than 2.1 million holdings.