This study reports the results of an exploratory investigation into building number technique applied by a sample of novice students using Electronic Dewey(ED). For control purposes, a second sample used the same classification schedule but in print format. In this experiment, the DDC 20 in print had a higher success rate than ED. While the searches in ED took shorter time than DDC in print, students using DDC 20 in print were able to build more correct numbers than ED. Novice users did not take full advantage of system features of ED. Therefore, it is important to note the overall difficulty with which users could build numbers from the ED after little training. However, it is interesting to note that the students in the CD-ROM group were more interested in building numbers than their colleagues in the Print group. The correlation between the grade of English course and the score in experiment was negative in Print group. And the correlation between GPA and the score in experiment was a little positive. The correlation between the time and the score in experiment was quitenegative.