I'm not sure I'm being fair in thinking that it is. It's just that, for me, it's a very basic skill. Of course, the kids at Cordelia's school aren't learning how call numbers work. They don't have time for it these days. They're too busy with learning computer skills during their library time.

But ordering Dewey call numbers seems fairly intuitive to me. It's just basic number order and then alphabetical within each number.

I suppose they do look intimidating and arcane to people who haven't done much with them.