classification Library mgmt

7/28/2019 classification Library mgmt.

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Colon classificationFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Colon classification (CC) is a system of library classification developed by S. R. Ranganathan. It was the first

ever faceted (or analytico-synthetic) classification. The first edition was published in 1933. Since then six moreeditions have been published. It is especially used in libraries in India.

Its name "colon classification" comes from the use of colons to separate facets in class numbers. However,

many other classification schemes, some of which are completely unrelated, also use colons and

other punctuation in various functions. They should not be confused with colon classification.

As an example, the subject "research in the cure of tuberculosis of lungs by x-ray conducted in India in 1950"

results in a call number

L,45;421:6;253:f.44'N5

The components of this call number represent

Medicine,Lungs;Tuberculosis:Treatment;X-ray:Research.India'1950

Contents

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1 Organization

o 1.1 Facets

o 1.2 Classes

2 Example

3 See also

4 References

5 External links

Organization[edit]

The colon classification uses 42 main classes that are combined with other letters, numbers and

marks in a manner resembling theLibrary of Congress Classification to sort a publication.

Library classificationFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this

article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may

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be challenged and removed.(March 2012)

A library classification is a system of coding, assorting and organizing documents, library materials or any

information (books, serials, audiovisual materials, computer files, maps, manuscripts, realia) according to their

subject and allocating a call number [clarification needed ] to that information resource. Bibliographic classification

systems group entities together that are relevant the same subject, typically arranged in a hierarchical tree

structure (like classification systems used in biology). A different kind of classification system, called a faceted

classification system, is also widely used which allows the assignment of multiple classifications to an object,

enabling the classifications to be ordered in multiple ways.

Contents

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1 Description

2 Types

o 2.1 Universal classification systems used in the English-speaking world

o 2.2 Universal classification systems in other languages

o 2.3 Universal classification systems that rely on synthesis (faceted systems)

3 Comparing classification systems

4 See also

5 References

6 External links

Description[edit]

Library classification forms part of the field of library and information science. It is a form of bibliographic

classification (library classifications are used in library catalogs, while "bibliographic classification" also covers

classification used in other kinds of bibliographic databases). It goes hand in hand with library (descriptive)

cataloging under the rubric of cataloging and classification, sometimes grouped together as technical services.

The library professional who engages in the process of cataloging and classifying library materials is called

a cataloguer or catalog librarian. Library classification systems are one of the two tools used to facilitatesubject

access. The other consists of alphabetical indexing languages such as Thesauri and Subject Headings

systems.

Library classification of a piece of work consists of two steps. Firstly, the "aboutness" of the material is

ascertained. Next, a call number (essentially a book's address) based on the classification system in use at the

particular library will be assigned to the work using the notation of the system.

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It is important to note that unlike subject heading or thesauri where multiple terms can be assigned to the same

work, in library classification systems, each work can only be placed in one class. This is due to shelving

purposes: A book can have only one physical place. However in classified catalogs one may have main entries

as well as added entries. Most classification systems like the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and Library

of Congress classification also add a cutter number to each work which adds a code for the author of the work.

Classification systems in libraries generally play two roles. Firstly, they facilitate subject access by allowing the

user to find out what works or documents the library has on a certain subject.[1]

Secondly, they provide a known

location for the information source to be located (e.g. where it is shelved).

Until the 19th century, most libraries had closed stacks, so the library classification only served to organize the

subject catalog. In the 20th century, libraries opened their stacks to the public and started to shelve the library

material itself according to some library classification to simplify subject browsing.

Some classification systems are more suitable for aiding subject access, rather than for shelf location. For example, UDC which uses a complicated notation including plus, colons are more difficult to use for the

purpose of shelf arrangement but are more expressive compared to DDC in terms of showing relationships

between subjects. Similarly faceted classification schemes are more difficult to use for shelf arrangement,

unless the user has knowledge of the citation order.

Depending on the size of the library collection, some libraries might use classification systems solely for one

purpose or the other. In extreme cases a public library with a small collection might just use a classification

system for location of resources but might not use a complicated subject classification system. Instead all

resources might just be put into a couple of wide classes (Travel, Crime, Magazines etc.). This is known as a

"mark and park" classification method, more formally called reader interest classification.[2]

Types[edit]

There are many standard systems of library classification in use, and many more have been proposed over the

years. However in general, classification systems can be divided into three types depending on how they are

used:

Universal schemes covering all subjects. Examples include Dewey Decimal Classification, Universal

Decimal Classification andLibrary of Congress Classification

Specific classification schemes for particular subjects or types of materials. Examples include

Iconclass, British Catalogue of Music Classification, and Dickinson classification, or the NLM

Classification for medicine.

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National schemes specially created for certain countries. An example is the Swedish library classification

system, SAB (Sveriges Allmänna Biblioteksförening).

In terms of functionality, classification systems are often described as:

enumerative: subject headings are listed alphabetically, with numbers assigned to each heading in

alphabetical order.

hierarchical: subjects are divided hierarchically, from most general to most specific.

faceted or analytico-synthetic: subjects are divided into mutually exclusive orthogonal facets.

There are few completely enumerative systems or faceted systems; most systems are a blend but favouring

one type or the other. The most common classification systems, LCC and DDC, are essentially enumerative,

though with some hierarchical and faceted elements (more so for DDC), especially at the broadest and most

general level. The first true faceted system was the Colon classification of S. R. Ranganathan.

Universal c

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Margaret Kipp - [email protected] - https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/kipp/public/courses/511/

511: Organization of Information Categorisation and Classification

Categories and Categoris ation

mailto:[email protected]






The classical view of categorisation states that categories are based on sharedproperties. For example: birds fly. This view leads to lists of exceptions such aspenguins and ostriches which are considered birds but do not fly.

Categorisation is a basic method used by all humans to organise thoughts, action,speech and perception. It is a process that allows people to make useful assumptionsabout new things by allowing them to make comparisons with well known things.Categorisation can be thought of as the process of thinking of something as a kind of thing, similar to something else.

Separating items into kinds of things is categorisation. Categorisation tends to beautomatic. For example, when entering this room you automatically categorised objects

into furniture, computer equipment, etc. Categories can be based on concrete entitieslike chairs, tables, cars, birds or on abstract entities like emotions, social relationships,events, scientific and cultural entities.

Classical categorisation theory assumed that entities fit well into one category and werenot ambiguous. This has proven to be somewhat optimistic.

Eleanor Rosch, a psychologist, pointed out two flaws in classical theory. First, if classical categorisation theory is correct then categories should not have objects thatare exceptional. Second, categories should be defined only by properties inherent to theobject. Neither of these assumptions is true, thus poking holes in the traditional theoryof classification.

Prototype theory, developed by Rosch, states that there are prototypes or bestexamples of each category. For example, if bird is a category covering feathered beingswith wings which fly, then a robin or a crow would be better examples of a bird than a

penguin or ostrich (which have wings but do not fly). Prototype theory supports the ideathat our knowledge of the world is heavily determined by how we categorise since itaffects what questions people will ask and how they will answer them. It supports thenotion that there are different ways to see the world and also supports a disconnectbetween meaning and truth.



The important aspects of categorisation theory that affect subject analysis can besummarised as follows:

some categories are fuzzy, that is they have graded degrees of membership fromboundary members to central members (e.g. tall man, red)

other categories have clear boundaries, but members may be more or lesstypical examples of the categories (e.g. birds) relationships between categories are more complex than a hierarchy, some

categories are simply more basic to the human mind basic level categories depend on human perception of part-whole relationships

and knowledge of how the parts function with respect to the whole categories are affected by culture and biology as well as the external world, thus

prototypes are culturally determined properties relevant to the description of categories are those which we can see

and interact with

Prototype theory affects subject analysis since it reminds us that categories andsubjects used by one group of people may not be the same as those used by another group. A simple example is the difference between medical terminology and ordinaryterminology; the term stomach flu is inaccurate since it is not actually related to theinfluenza virus.

Two other important concepts in categorisation are boundary objects and miscellaneous

objects. Boundary objects are objects which fall on the boundary between two or morecategories. These items could be classified in either group with equal ease. Boundaryobjects remind us that categories are not necessarily mutually exclusive, though manyclassification systems attempt to work towards the goal of being able to place each iteminto one and only one category. Miscellaneous objects are similar, but instead of fittinginto multiple categories they appear to fit into non of the existing categories.

Shera and Egan's pr inciples

In the last few weeks we looked at various ways of expressing the subject of aninformation package ranging from brief summarisations to abstracts, indexing systems(controlled vocabulary subject heading lists and thesauri) and social tagging.



Shera and Egan's Eight principles for indexing systems are a set of goals for indexingand classification systems designed to make them more flexible and more able tosupport retrieval.

1. Provide access by subject to all relevant material. 2. Provide subject access to materials through all suitable principles of subject

organization, e.g., matter, process, applications, etc. 3. Bring together references to materials [that] treat substantially the same subject

regardless of disparities in terminology. (e.g. Trucks vs. Lorries) 4. Show affiliations among subject fields. 5. Provide entry to any subject field at any level of analysis, from the most general

to the most specific. 6. Provide entry through any vocabulary common to any considerable group of

users. (e.g. Movies, Films, Motion pictures) 7. Provide a formal description of the subject content of bibliographic unit.

Coextensivity means that indexing must equal subject, no more no less. 8. Provide means for the user to make selection from among all items in any

particular category.

Principles 6 and 7 suffer when language is used for subject indexing. Principle 6requires that all possible terms be available, but controlled vocabularies force the choiceof a preferred term and often fail to provide adequate entry vocabulary to allow users to

reach the preferred term. Principle 7 requires that an item be described as fully andbriefly as possible, but from the summarisation exercise in assignment 4, we can seethis is also difficult, if not impossible to do in a brief statement without leaving out keyconcepts from description in discipline-topic-form format. Instead, controlledvocabularies or natural language keywords tend to focus on topics and leave locatingthe discipline or form as an exercise for the user of the system.

Classification, since it does not use natural language, can be used to fulfill principle 7,though a complex classification may require training to use and thus fail to fully support

principle 6.

Classif ication



Classification is the use of symbolic notation to achieve the objectives of subjectindexing. Subject indexing and classification attempt to achieve the same result, a fulldescription of the subject of the item, but classification systems use letters, numbersand symbols to represent subjects, thus removing natural language from the equation.Otherwise, they are very similar types of systems which rely on the categorisation of

subjects (subject analysis and separation into categories) and their expression usedpredefined standards (for subject indexing these are standards for the selection andformatting of controlled vocabulary terms).

One major advantage of classification systems over indexing systems is that thenumbers used in classification systems can be language independent. An item with thesymbol 973 (Dewey Decimal symbol for History of the United States) it identifies thisconcept regardless of the language. A version of Dewey translated into Spanish wouldstill have 973 as the category for US History, though it would be called Historia de

Estados Unidos in Spanish. Additionally, it is immediately obvious to a user familiar withthe classification when seeing the 9 in 973 that this item must be somehow related tothe field of history or geography since the 900s are History & Geography. This is asyndetic structure just like that of a thesaurus.

900 History & Geography

910 Geography & travel

920 Biography & genealogy

930 History of ancient world (to ca. 499)

940 History of Europe

950 History of Asia

960 History of Africa

970 History of North America

971 Canada

972 Middle America; Mexico

973 United States

974 Northeastern United States



975 Southeastern United States

976 South central United States

977 North central United States

978 Western United States

979 Great Basin & Pacific Slope region

980 History of South America

990 History of other areas

An excerpt from the DDC Summaries for DDC22(http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/deweysummaries.pdf )

In this excerpt from the Dewey Decimal Classification, we can see multiple categoriesunder 900 for geography, biography and the history of various parts of the world. Theentire context of the topic is available both up and down the classification. It is worthnoting that this excerpt only shows part of the pattern. Numbers exist between each of the listed numbers and can be extended beyond the three number classificationnumbers listed.

Classification thus allows items to be placed in context with less need to consult a bookof subject headings for an exact discipline. Dewey itself has only 10 upper levelcategories. So, classification comes closer to resolving Shera and Egan's 8 principlessince it brings together like material into useful clusters, is free of the limitations of natural language and preserves more of the context of the subject.

The purpose of using classification is to bring related resources together in a helpfulsequence from the general to the specific. This is very similar to the principle behind

indexing, which is to cluster materials with like materials.

In Class Exercise: Context in Classification

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In Dewey, biographies can be placed under 900s (geography, history or biography) or under related subjects (e.g. scientists or mathematicians under the 500s for sciences).In a small group discuss the pros and cons of placing biographies in their own group or under a specific subject. What do you think libraries should do? You might also consider what decisions you have seen in libraries or bookstores.

History o f Classi f icat ion

Bibliographic classifications were created for the purpose of arranging (organising andclustering) and retrieving information, at the time mainly books, and were later used toarrange and retrieve the surrogates in catalogues. Early catalogues were generally

arranged by author, title or accession number, accessible via a book catalogue. Alibrary of a few hundred books can be searched reasonably quickly by someone withsome knowledge of the collection so classifications were less important. Many peoplehave personal libraries that vastly exceed the size of the average monastic library in themiddle ages.

Major work in the development of classification system began in the 16th century whenlibrarians began to experiment with classifications systems, mostly based onphilosophical separations of all of knowledge into categories. This type of system is

known as a universal classification.

In the middle ages, books tended to be organised based on the school curriculum at thetime (the trivium of grammar, rhetoric and logic and the quadrivium of arithmetic, music,geometry and astronomy). The baconian classification of knowledge (by Francis Bacon,a 17th century philosopher) divided knowledge into 3 faculties: history (natural, civil,literary, ecclesiastical), philosophy (including theology) and works of imagination(poetry, fables, etc). You can still see the influence of his philosophies in modernclassification systems.

A more modern version of this type of universal classification is that used by theEncyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedias are systems for the organisation of knowledge. (Wikipedia does this too to some extent.) In an encyclopaedia, the editorsdecide what is worth including and how to organise it.



Britannica includes a book called the Propaedia, which is a preliminary volume inclassified order intended to serve as a sort of browsers index to the entire encyclopedia.This preliminary volume is known as the "outline of knowledge." The classification in the

15th edition (the current edition) is based on the following order:

1. Matter and energy

2. Earth

3. Life on earth

4. Human life

5. Human society

6. Art

7. Technology

8. Religion

9. The history of "mankind"

10. The branches of knowledge

[From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prop%C3%A6dia ]

This list really does not appear that similar to the classifications we use in libraries, but itdoes show a definite philosophy about knowledge. The propaedia considers thateverything that exists is either matter or energy (starts with the sciences in other words),that the most important part to us is the Earth, followed by life on earth, human life,human society, art, technology and religion, history and finally scholarship.

Like library classifications, each of these categories is subdivided into 2-7 parts, whichare themselves divided into sections.

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Part 6: Art

Division 1: Art in General

611 Theory and Classification of the Arts

612 Experience and Criticism of Works of Art; the Nonaesthetic Context of Art

613 Characteristics of the Arts in Popular Cultures

Division 2: The Particular Arts

621 Literature

622 Theatre

623 Motion Pictures

624 Music

625 Dance

626 Architecture, Garden and Landscape Design, and Urban Design

627 Sculpture

628 Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, and Photography

629 Arts of Decoration and Functional Design

[Excerpt from the Propaedia, Britannica 15th ed.]

Library classifications began to be created in the late 1800s and early 1900s to handlethe early stages of the print revolution. This was a time of great change in scholarshipas the sciences became increasingly important and also the beginnings of theinformation revolution as an explosion in literacy rates caused a corresponding

explosion in the printing of materials. This information explosion caused an increasingworry about the ability to organise information, and thus in this time period a number of universal bibliographic classifications were created to solve the problem (or attemptanyway). Classifications such as the Dewey Decimal System, Library of CongressClassification, the Universal Decimal System and the Bliss Classification all date fromthis period.



In most North American libraries, classification systems are used as call numbers toarrange resources on the shelves in useful clusters. This creates collocation of items bysubject which facilitates browsing and the serendipitous location of material that issimilar to the material the user located in the catalogue. The limitation to this system,though, is that a print item can only be located in one place in the library, and thus is

given only one classification number, so this does not really solve the problem of assigning enough subjects to an item to fully cover the aboutness. Thus, subjectheadings are used as a supplement to enhance the ability to browse and locate itemswhich may be related, but physically separate on the shelves of the library.

Open stack libraries are less common in other parts of the world. With closed stacks,many libraries simply use a fixed location to store books, this fixed location may be anaccession number assigned when the book arrived (each item would be shelved next tothe next newest item). This system is also generally used in large national libraries and

specialised libraries. Users would then locate the item in the catalogue and provide thelibrary staff with a list of location identifiers or call numbers they require. In this context,classification systems are often used in a multilingual context instead of subjectheadings to provide language-free methods of browsing a subject area. This allowsusers to search in their language using a system which provides the classificationnumber associated with their desired concept.

Classification is the primary tool of the domain of study known as knowledgeorganization. Many principles of classification have carried over into other fields of study

examining knowledge and information organisation such as artificial intelligence, wherescientists attempt to create machines which can think in the human sense, by providedcategories into which the machine can organise the world. This is the sense in whichthe term ontology was created. The basic principle involved is that of membership or non membership in a category. The machine is asked whether an item "is a" member or not. Thus, the rule or heuristic is referred to as an "is a" rule. This term is also used inthe construction of thesauri

Propert ies of Classi f icat ions

There are four basic properties of good classifications: inclusivity, systematicity,flexibility and expandibility.



Classifications should be inclusive as well was comprehensive. This means that agiven classification must include all possible entities within its field of coverage. For auniversal classification, this means all fields of recorded knowledge. For a classificationof household furniture, this would include sofas, kitchen chairs, bookcases and evencomputer tables. Obviously, this classification would have some overlap with office

furniture and other categories. A classification should encompass all collectibleresources within its designated field of interest. Like controlled vocabularies,classifications are supposed to use terminology that is clear and descriptive with aconsistent meaning for both the user and the cataloguer. This means that terminologyshould be that used by the group which will use and apply the classification. Though thisterminology is not used in the classification symbols, it is used to search for a givenclass number and to select a number to apply.

Classifications must be systematic, which means that the rules for the inclusion and

exclusion of items must be clear, relatively unambiguous and based on clearlydescribable principles.

Classifications are also supposed to be flexible and expansible. Both of theseproperties imply that the classification will be able to manage new knowledge byallocating space and incorporating new rules for its classification. Classification systemsthat are difficult to expand are considered somewhat brittle. Like controlledvocabularies, classifications change with cultural viewpoints and the creation of newknowledge, thus they are constantly being updated.

Types of Classi f icat ions

The major classification systems used in libraries fall into four basic classes, which arenot mutually exclusive. Many popular classification systems show elements of morethan one of these types of classifications.

Enumerative classifications attempt to provide a designation for all single andcomposite subjects covered by the system. This is the principle of inclusivity. Everyconcept that needs to be represented in the classification must have a location in theclassification. This principle is also related to the concept of literary warrant. Literarywarrant implies that the system is based on the contents of a physical collection. For



example, the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) uses the collection of the Libraryof Congress as its literary warrant. So, for every item in the Library of Congresscollection, there must be a corresponding classification in the LCC. The DDC currentlyhas a literary warrant consisting of the collections listed in the OCLC bibliographicdatabase.

Hierarchical classifications are arranged according to the principles of general-specificrelations. That is to say that each item is arranged so that items above it are moregeneral and items below are more specific. For example, Animal - Cat - Manx Cat, is avery simple hierarchy showing the transition from the more general term Animal to themore specific term Manx Cat.

Using the bank example from week 7, we can see a distinct hierarchy of items in thetree view.

This is a hierarchy with a general term at the top (Banks) and much more specific termsat the bottom (Home equity). To turn this into a classification, requires only the additionof numbers (or some other symbol) attached to each concept.

1 Banks

1.1 Deposits

1.2 Investments

1.3 Loans



1.3.1 Business

1.3.2 Personal

1.3.3 Mortgage

1.3.3.1 Purchase

1.3.3.2 Vacation residence

1.3.3.3 Home equity

This forms a classification, with a very basic hierarchical format. This format of aclassification is known as a schedule. A list of all upper level categories is generally

known as an outline or summary.

Hierarchical classifications attempt to follow the natural organisation of a subject intodivisions and subdivisions, following the logic of the field. This implies that changes to afield of knowledge can have a substantial impact on the classification itself.

Synthetic classifications allow for a greater flexibility in the creation of multi concept

subjects as different parts of a classification may be used together to express complexsubjects. Synthetic classifications assign designations to simple concepts and providelists of rules for the combination of these designations into composite subjects. For example, if the Bank classification was more extensive and included a class number for Townhouse (e.g. 06 Townhouse) a synthetic classification could put the conceptsTownhouse and Mortgage together to form the concept "Mortgage for a townhouse.With 06 for townhouse and 1.3.3 for mortgage, the final classification number could be1.3.3-06. The Dewey Decimal System is synthetic.

Faceted classifications allow the combination of several different classification schemesin a prescribed sequence, in order to express clearly defined, mutually exclusive, andcollectively exhaustive properties, or characteristics of a subject. That is a facetedclassification consists of facets, which may be properties or characteristics of a subjector of its format, that can be combined together to form a full and complete description.The most famous faceted classification is Ranganathan's Colon Classification, butelements of faceted classification have been included in DDC and facets are commonly



used by information architects building taxonomies on corporate and governmentwebsites.

An example of a faceted classification would be an online clothing store allowing usersto browse items by: style, colour, type of clothing, fabric, size, fit, care instructions,price, etc. Each of these facets is separate from the other since an item normally comesin multiple sizes, fits, colours and may even have different associated prices or fabrics.

Classi f icat ion Con cepts

The major bibliographic classification schemes have certain commonalities. Eachsystem provides a verbal description of important concepts that can be represented withthe scheme. Each system also provides a meaningful arrangement of concepts in aclassified (hierarchical) or logical order to permit users to locate concepts. The conceptsare all associated with a notation used to represent these concepts and laid out in aschedule (hierarchical listing) of classification numbers and in supplementary tables.This notation does not rely on natural language but on symbols (e.g. letter or numbers)and punctuation or formatting to combine them.

Since concepts may fall into multiple disciplines or cross disciplines, each system alsohas references within the schedules and tables intended to guide classifiers andsearchers to related topics or different aspects of the topic. These references are likerelated term references in a thesaurus. In addition to these references, classificationsystems provide indexes to the terms used in the classification as well as synonyms of those terms to lead searchers to the proper notation.

Finally, classifications provide instruction manuals detailing how to use and apply theclassification in the organisation of knowledge. Each of the major bibliographicclassification systems is kept updated by an organisation dedicated to the maintenanceand revision of the classification.



Beyond the basic properties of classifications, there are a number of issues which affectclassifications. Some of these issues apply to all classification schemes regardless of their intended uses, while others have a greater effect on classification systems that areused to create call numbers.

Classifications can be broad or close. A broad classification uses only the main classesand divisions of a classification scheme and perhaps a few subdivisions. OCLCpublishes an abridged version of the Dewey classification that rarely goes beyond 4 or 5numbers for use in small libraries with collections of less than 20000 items. This wouldbe a broad classification. A close classification, in contrast, uses all availablesubdivisions to generate extremely specific subjects. This issue is to some extentindependent of the classification itself and is simply a matter of deciding between theequivalent of summarisation and depth indexing in the realm of classification.

Broad versus close classification is an issue in union catalogues as collections whichhave been classified at different levels of classification are combined. Systems aregenerally not designed to handle multiple levels of classification and the combination of broad and close classification breaks the principles of collocation as items classified at abroad level do not collocate properly with items classified more closely. This is more of an issue for institutions that use classification for call numbers as a small library may bereluctant to assign long, potentially confusing call numbers to its materials, but may findit useful to copy catalogue using a large bibliographic database like OCLC.

Classifications may be based on the equivalent of user or literary warrant. Inclassification, this is a distinction between attempting to classify all knowledge versusclassifying the material in a collection. DDC was designed to classify all knowledge, butlater revisions have been based on literary warrant using the resources of OCLCsbibliographic database as the collection. The Library of Congress Classification, like theLCSH, was based on literary warrant, in other words the collection available in theLibrary of Congress. Dewey divides knowledge into 10 basic categories classed from 0to 9 which are then subdivided by tens and hundreds creating 1000 divisions. LCC bycontrast uses the letters of the alphabet for upper level categories. Recent revisions

have created subdivisions with up to 3 letters, allowing for a larger number of divisions.Ultimately, the question is whether a scheme should be based on a philosophical viewof the universe of knowledge or on the practical view of what is actually being studied or created at the time of creation of the classification.



Another issue in classification is that of maintaining the integrity of the classificationnumbers versus keeping pace with knowledge. While the notion of maintaining theintegrity of numbers in a classification is certainly a reasonable one, since it wouldfacilitate user searching by allowing users to simply remember the number for the topicthat interests them, it is not practical since knowledge grows at different rates and it is

not actually possible to predict which areas will be most popular in the future. So, allclassification schemes require periodic updating in order to keep pace with knowledge.

LCC has a greater scope for flexibility with a larger number of upper level classes andso is more flexible in this way. DDC has proven less flexible, and there have beenchanges to divisions although the upper level classes have remained constant.Changes to lower level divisions are much less expensive than changes to upper leveldivisions since changes to upper level divisions affect far more items.

When classification numbers are used as call numbers, this also entails changes to thecall numbers themselves and the rearrangement of the physical material.

An example of the types of changes that have occurred can be seen in the mathematicssection of Dewey.

DDC 1st ed.

510 Mathematics

511 Arithmetic

512 Algebra

513 Geometry

514 Trigonometry

515 Conic Sections

516 Analytical Geometry



517 Calculus

518 Quaternions

519 Probabilities

DDC 22nd ed.

510 Mathematics

511 General principles of mathematics

512 Algebra

513 Arithmetic

514 Topology

515 Analysis

516 Geometry

517 [Unassigned]

518 Numerical Analysis [formerly 515]

519 Probabilities and applied mathematics

The section on Arithmetic has been moved from 511 to 513, a number of sections havedisappeared entirely (Conic Sections, Quaternions) and some sections have beenrenamed (Probabilities) or combined (Geometry and Analytical Geometry). The originalorder reflects the organisation of mathematics as it was seen in 1876, while the newer

order reflects a more modern view of the field some 130 years later.

This leads directly into the issue of fixed versus relative locations in a library and of location versus collocation. A library using fixed locations would be less affected bychanges to classification systems as the physical location of the items on the shelveswould not change. Only the classification numbers would change. This still poses a



problem in terms of updates, but this could be alleviated with the use of a bibliographicutility to help locate and identify changed numbers. Libraries using classification for callnumbers would have to decide how to handle the change. Materials could simply be leftas they are, but then material from Arithmetic might be located under 511 from the oldscheme or 513 from the new and be hopelessly jumbled with Geometry (513 from the

old scheme) and general principles (511 in the new scheme). This does nothing for collocation.

Location versus collocation is a related issue that, like the issue of fixed versus relativelocations, is often related to whether the library has open or closed stacks. Mostlibraries with closed stacks make little attempt to collocate items instead providingcollocation via the catalogue and using a simple location code (usually an accessionnumber) for location. This, however, limits the user's ability to browse the collection andmake serendipitous discoveries in clusters of like materials that are created by a

collocation system.

Finally, classifications tend to appear in various different broad classes: universal,national, subject specific, and homegrown systems. Universal classifications attempt tocover all of knowledge, while subject specific classifications cover all of knowledge onlywithin a specific subject area and in much more depth. National classification systemscover the fields of knowledge that are relevant to a particular country. Homegrownsystems include small subject area classifications developed for highly specialisedcollections, but also include classifications like that used by Yahoo in its Yahoo! Local

directory (http://local.yahoo.com/).

This classification has multiple upper level categories which are subdivided into lower level categories. The upper level categories are: Automotive, Community, Computersand Internet, Education and Instruction, Entertainment and Arts, Food and Dining,Health and Medicine, Home and Garden, Legal and Financial, Other ProfessionalServices, Personal Care, Real Estate, Recreation and Sports, Retail Shopping, Traveland Transportation, and Business to Business. This is an example of literary warrant onthe web, reflecting the material that Yahoo has assembled and organised for its users.

Universal Classif ication s

http://local.yahoo.com/






The Propaedia from the Encyclopaedia Britannica is an example of a universalclassification. Most library classifications are universal classifications intended toorganise all of knowledge. Examples of universal classification systems include: DeweyDecimal System (DDC), Library of Congress Classification (LCC), Universal DecimalClassification (UDC), Bliss' Bibliographic Classification (Bliss) and Ranganathan's Colon

Classification (Colon). In contrast to universal classifications, subject specificclassifications offer specific classification systems for specific subject, usually at a muchgreater level of detail than would ever be available in a universal classification.

Most library classifications divide knowledge into a series of main classes. DDC uses 10main classes, LCC uses 21, UDC uses 10, Bliss has 27 and the Colon Classificationuses 42 major classes.

The most commonly used classifications in the United States and Canada are DDC andLCC. UDC is most commonly used in Europe and Bliss is mainly used in the UK. TheColon classification is mostly used in India. These last there classifications have gaineda certain amount of attention with the increasing number of resources availableelectronically since UDC, Bliss and Colon are all faceted classifications that lendthemselves to Internet classification and searching. While Dewey has some facetedaspects, it is still an enumerative classification.

DDC and LCC have many commonalities. Both systems were created in the UnitedStates at around the same time period. Both systems are enumerative, that is theyattempt to provide a unique number for all major concepts or topics, where a facetedsystem (which is generally not enumerative) would build a number based on thecomponent subjects in the item. The two systems are also updated continuously to keeppace with the development of knowledge. Both systems also provide additional tables toadd information about the geographic location, historical time period, format of the itemor main entry to the classification number, regardless of topic.

Despite these similarities, there are also major differences between the two systems.LCC is larger than DDC and has a greater range of numbers. DDC, however, has abasic structural principle that runs throughout the classification while each main class of LCC is actually developed independently of all the others and thus is organised in acompletely different manner based on the disciplines included. This means that whileknowledge of one DDC class may help in navigating others, this same knowledge inLCC does not carry over to other classes.



More obviously, DDC and LCC use very different notations for class numbers. DDC isalmost exclusively a numeric system with a decimal point placed after the third number in all cases (pure notation) while LCC uses letters for upper level classes and a mix of

numbers and letters for qualifiers (mixed notation). LCC allows numbers to be modifiedby adding Cutter numbers to identify the main entry. LCC cannot easily be abridge, butDDC can be abridged by simply shortening the number. The item will still fall into thesame upper level divisions.

Both DDC and LCC uses auxiliary tables to add information about geographic places,historical time periods or format, but while DDC has one set of tables for this task, LCChas different tables for each main class. This leads to the final difference between thetwo, which is the use of mnemonics or repeating groups of numbers. In DDC, groups of

numbers which represent the same topic can be found in various places in theschedules.

We are going to examine the most commonly used universal bibliographicclassifications in a bit more detail.

Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC)

Melvil Dewey published the Decimal Classification in 1876. It has had a transformativeeffect on classification, librarianship and the creation of ontologies globally as manydecimal classification systems were based on Dewey's or developed to try to counteractperceived problems with DDC. Dewey is also famous in library history as the founder of the first professional school for librarians and a strong proponent of public libraries as aportal to lifelong learning and increased literacy. So, DDC was intended to teach userssomething about the structure of knowledge as they browsed the library.

Outline of Knowledge

DDC is based on the ontology or order of knowledge developed by Francis Bacon in the17th century. Dewey, however had his own ideas about how things should be organisedand somewhat ignored Bacon's three upper level divisions.



The first ten classes in Dewey's Decimal Classification are as follows:

0 Generalities

1 Philosophy & psychology

2 Religion

3 Social sciences

4 Language

5 Natural sciences & mathematics

6 Applied sciences (now called Technology)

7 The arts

8 Literature and rhetoric

9 Geography and history

[Excerpt from Decimal Classification by Melville Dewey, 1876]

The first ten classes in DDC22:

000 Computer science, information & general works

100 Philosophy & psychology

200 Religion

300 Social sciences

400 Language

500 Science

600 Technology

700 Arts & recreation



800 Literature

900 History & geography

[Excerpt from DDC22

http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/deweysummaries.pdf]

These classes have not changed substantially since that time, but there have beenmany changes to lower level classes and entire areas have been reorganised as thebranches of knowledge changed or became more or less important.

Examining Dewey's classes, you can see that this is a completely different classification

from that used in the Propaedia from Britannica. Philosophically, the Britannica beginswith the sciences and moves from there to the Earth and life. Dewey's list begins withphilosophy and religion before moving on to life, technology and then the Earth andhistory. Each of these orders imposes a set of presumptions and preconceptions onusers about the relationship between life and reality.

Basic Principles Underlying DDC

The Dewey Decimal System is based on a number of underlying principles:Hierarchical, Enumerative, Literary Warrant, Decimal Division, Classification byDiscipline, Synthetic and Mnemonic.

The Dewey Decimal Classification is enumerative, hierarchical and decimal, andincludes faceting. It is decimal because it divides all of knowledge into 10 classes (from0 to 9) and uses an almost purely numeric notation for its classification symbols. Eachof the ten classes is subdivided and so on.

Decimal Division

All Dewey numbers are based on this decimal principle of division or subdivision. Thereare three summaries of DDC numbers: the 10s, the 100s and the 1000s. The 10s are



the main classes. The 100s are subdivisions of these classes, and each of the 100divisions is subdivided into 10 subdivisions creating 1000 classes.

For example, the number 973 is History of the United States. The 900 in 973 representsHistory. The 70 in 973 represents North America and the 3 in 973 represents the UnitedStates. All Dewey numbers can be broken apart like this to discover the major topics or divisions.

Classification by Discipline

Dewey is discipline based not topic based. To find subjects, you must enter through the

context of the associated discipline. Cooking, for example, is listed under homeeconomics. This leads the side effect that some topics are distributed throughout theclassification as they are relevant to multiple disciplines (sometimes referred to as adistributed relative).

An example of this is the topic alcohol, which is relevant to a number of disciplines. Itcan be:

A social problem:

300 Social sciences

360 Social problems & social services

361-365 Social problems and services

362-363 Specific social problems and services

362 Social welfare problems and services

362.1-362.4 Problems of and services to persons with illnesses and disabilities

362.2 Mental and emotional illnesses and disturbances

362.25-362.29 Specific problems



362.29 Substance abuse

362.292 *Alcohol

A chemical compound:

500 Science

540 Chemistry

541-547 Chemistry

547 Organic chemistry

547.01-547.08 Kinds of compounds identified by component elements

547.03 *Oxy and hydroxy compounds

547.031 *Alcohols

A health problem:

600 Technology

610 Medicine & health

618 Other branches of medicine Gynecology and obstetrics

618.1-618.8 Gynecology and obstetrics

618.3-618.8 Diseases, disorders, management of pregnancy, childbirth, puerperium

618.3 *Diseases and complications of pregnancy

618.32 *Fetal disorders

618.326 Diseases of specific systems and organs

618.3268 *Diseases of nervous system

618.32686 *Substance-related disorders



618.326861 *Alcohol-related disorders

A detergent:

600 Technology

660 Chemical engineering

668 Technology of other organic products

668.1 Surface-active agents (Surfactants)

668.14 Detergents and wetting agents

Something to drink:

600 Technology

640 Home & family management

641 Food and drink

641.8 Cooking specific kinds of dishes and preparing beverages

641.87 Preparing beverages

641.874 Alcoholic beverages

To resolve this problem, Dewey has a relative index. The relative index provides accessfor concepts that are treated in multiple places, allowing the user to select which aspectof the topic interests them.

The relative index entry for alcohol looks like this:

1. 362.292 *Alcohol

2. 547.031 *Alcohols



3. 618.326861 *Alcohol-related disorders

4. 668.14 Detergents and wetting agents

And the entry for alcoholic looks like this:

1. 178.1 Consumption of alcoholic beverages

2. B 205.681 Alcoholic beverages--ethics--religion

3. B 241.681 Alcoholic beverages--ethics--religion--Christianity

4. B 296.3681 Alcoholic beverages--ethics--religion--Judaism

5. B 297.5681 Alcoholic beverages--ethics--religion--Islam

6. B 306.87420874 Alcoholic fathers

7. B 344.0541 Alcoholic beverages--public control--law, . . .

8. 353.37 *Regulating personal conduct

9. 363.1929 Specific foods

10. 363.41 Sale of alcoholic beverages

Synthetic

DDC is synthetic, which means it is possible to add numbers together, although onlywhen the schedules tell you that you may.

For instance, to assign numbers under "Public Administration--Financial Administrationand Budgets--Budgeting"

Search the relative index for Budgeting, the resulting number is 325.48



In the notes, you are directed to "Add as instructed under 352-354" where you findseveral options.

The first few starting with 01-09 are all standard subdivisions from Table 1

Check for other options first, since the standard subdivisions can always be added atthe end.

Another option is: 27-28 Administration of supporting and controlling functions of government: Add to 2 the numbers following 352 in 352.7-352.8 , e.g., promoting and

disseminating knowledge 274, regulation 28 (note: 27 is the 2.7 from 352.7)

If you are dealing with regulation of financial administration, you must begin with 352.48for "Budgeting" and then add (append) whatever is found following the 2 at 352.7-352.8

For example 352.83 is "setting standards" this gives us an 83 to add to budgeting

Now we add (by appending, not arithmetically): 352.48 + 83 = 352.4883 for "Settingstandards for Regulating Public Budgets."

DDC also uses tables of standard subdivisions to add geographic, historical or formatinformation to a classification number. These tables are standard and used for all DDCnumbers, regardless of main class. Table 1 refers to format, Table 2 refers togeographic places or historical time periods. There are other tables, but tables 1 and 2are the most common.

From Table 1, 016 means bibliography, 05 means periodical, 03 means encyclopedia,09 means historic or geographic treatment, etc. If we had a bibliography of books aboutsetting standards for public budgets it would be classed as 352.4883016.



Broad and Close Classification

DDC allows for extremely close classification, which would be extremely useful in alarge library, but the number above for setting standards for public budgets would beless useful in a small library with only one or two books on public administration. In sucha library, the number could be abbreviated to 352 using Abridged Dewey notation. Thedecision would not only be based on the length of the number, but also on its effect oncollocation. By using simpler numbers in smaller collections you gather more materialstogether in larger groups, allowing your users a greater selection. By using complexnumbers in a research collection you separate the components of complex topics as anaid to selection for the scholar.

Mnemonic

DDC is also mnemonic, which means that the schedules have built in memory devicesto help decipher the subjects behind the numbers. This means that basic numbersalways have the same meaning so you can recognise them whenever they appear. 05is always a periodical (050 is in fact the number for serials). Another example is 973which refers to items about the History of the United States. The notation 973 can befound in other locations as well indicating that an item has something to do with theUnited States. For example, 782.4216615920973 would be a History of Rock Protest

Songs from the United States.

DDC and OCLC

DDC is maintained by OCLC, the world's largest bibliographic utility. The classificationitself has been translated into at least 30 languages and is used all over the world inboth small and large libraries.

A summary of the upper level classifications is available from their website(http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/ ). Webdewey(http://connexion.oclc.org/) allows electronic access to the DDC schedules and tables,but the schedules are also available in print.

http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/



http://connexion.oclc.org/







Library of Congress Classification (LCC)

In 1897, the Library of Congress decided to devise a new classification for its materialsdue to a move into a new building. The new classification would cover the entirecollection, thus allowing for a unified catalogue, which had not previously existed. Whilethe classification would be unified, it would also allow subject specialists to generateappropriate categories for their literatures. The LC examined DDC and a classificationcreated by Charles Cutter (Cutter's Expansive Classification) but rejected both of them.

Outline of Knowledge

Like Dewey, Cutter developed a universal classification. Unlike Dewey, Cutter based hisclassification on an evolutionary approach to knowledge. At the time the Library of Congress needed to make a decision about a new classification Dewey and Cutter werethe latest and most sophisticated developments. In the end LC chose neither. The mainreason DDC was rejected was Dewey's own inflexibility--he would not make changesthat would disrupt the 100 libraries who were already using it. Cutter's outline of classeswas accepted, but it was then reworked by James Hanson, Head of Cataloguing andCharles Martel, Chief Classifier. The only change they made was to place the artsbetween the social sciences and the sciences (Cutter had placed them at the end). Aswith Dewey, the resulting main classes are still in use.

The final arrangement uses the letters of the alphabet to identify classes, and usescardinal numerals to identify divisions and subdivisions within the classes. In someinstances, two and even three letter combinations are used to identify major divisions.

Here is the outline for LCC:

A -- GENERAL WORKS

B -- PHILOSOPHY. PSYCHOLOGY. RELIGION

C -- AUXILIARY SCIENCES OF HISTORY



D -- WORLD HISTORY AND HISTORY OF EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICA, AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND, ETC.

E -- HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS

F -- HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS

G -- GEOGRAPHY. ANTHROPOLOGY. RECREATION

H -- SOCIAL SCIENCES

J -- POLITICAL SCIENCE

K -- LAW

L -- EDUCATION

M -- MUSIC AND BOOKS ON MUSIC

N -- FINE ARTS

P -- LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Q -- SCIENCE

R -- MEDICINE

S -- AGRICULTURE

T -- TECHNOLOGY

U -- MILITARY SCIENCE

V -- NAVAL SCIENCE

Z -- BIBLIOGRAPHY. LIBRARY SCIENCE. INFORMATION RESOURCES (GENERAL)

[Excerpt from the LCC Outline http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/ ]

Basic Principles Underlying LCC

http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/






The Library of Congress Classification System is based on a number of underlyingprinciples: Enumerative, Literary Warrant, Geographical Arrangement, Alphabetical

Arrangement, Economy of Notation and Close Classification.

Enumeration

LCC is enumerative, which means like DDC it contains every concept required toclassify the books it covers, in this case those at the Library of Congress.

You can see the evolutionary notion of knowledge in the progress of classes. Fromchaos comes reason (philosophy) and God (religion), then society (history, social

sciences, law, education) gives way to the finer things (music and literature), all of whichis explained by the sciences, and is defended by the military, and is indexed by thelibrary. Notice how much more complex this schedule is than the simple ten classes of theDDC . Each letter represents a discipline, and has its own schedule.

Classification by Discipline

The schedules in LCC were all developed by subject specialists consulting publishedbibliographies, histories and their own collections. Specialists worked on subclassesindependently with an editor in charge of each schedule and Martel in charge of thewhole thing. The classification is run in the same manner today--LCC's specialists tendto the different divisions as they evolve, with a central office in charge of the entireclassification. The schedules are disciplinary, just like DDC. There is no index, althoughthe Library of Congress Subject Headings can function as an index.

Each schedule has a similar format.

1) Prefatory note with history and scope

2) Synopsis (all main divisions)

3) Outline (all main subdivisions)

4) Schedules



5) Auxiliary tables

6) Index

7) Supplementary additions and changes

For each discipline a set of formal divisions is applied called Martel's Seven Points.These points dictate the general pattern of arrangement of each division within a class.

Although it is not always followed precisely the progression is this:

1) General form divisions: Periodicals, Societies, Collections, Dictionaries, etc.

2) Theory, Philosophy

3) History

4) Treatises, General Works

5) Law, Regulation

6) Study and teaching

7) Special subjects and subdivisions, progressing from the more general to the specific

and as far as possible in logical order.

The general idea is to start the user off with more general works allowing them tobecome familiar with the field, its terminology and organisation. So, first you would find

journals and dictionaries and further on materials concerning the theory and philosophyof the discipline followed by general works, regulations, teaching of the field and specialsubjects. One net effect of this organisation is to keep forms collocated within adiscipline as well. This is quite different from DDC where form subdivisions allowformats to be scattered throughout the classification.

Geographical Arrangement and Alphabetical Arrangement

LCC uses various methods of subarrangement. In many cases, though, geographicalsubarrangement is preferred in order to sort materials on a specific subject by



geographic area. This is extremely useful for a government library where governmentmembers might find themselves interested in materials specific to a particular region of the country.

Economy of Notation and Close Classification

LCC uses much more compact notation than DDC allowing complex topics to berepresented with short class numbers. Because LCC was developed to handle theincreasing volume of information, it was designed to be more flexible and allow for morepossible concepts. Thus, LCC is more likely to contain a predefined number for a givenconcept.

Synthetic Notation

LCC has no mnemonic devices and patterns of letters or numbers from different classesare completely unrelated. Despite this, LCC does allow for synthesis, but it operatesdifferently from that used in DDC (and differently within its main classes too).

An example: Schedule B (Philosophy)at http://www.loc.gov/aba/cataloging/classification/lcco/lcco_b.pdf

Take a look at the distribution of concepts, at the hierarchy, and at the use of letters andnumbers. One letter generally identifies a class (a disciplinary area) and two identify adivision (a subdomain within that class). A span of numbers identifies specific topicalareas and a scope note tells you what you will find in that area.

If you wanted to class a book on hypnotism, you could go to Psychology (BF on page 5of the PDF) where you would find another outline with more specific topics. BF1001-1389 is listed under Psychology as the category for Parapsychology and BF1111-1156is listed for Hypnotism among other things. From there, you could select BF1111 for amore specific number for books on hypnotism. (See LC classwebathttp://classificationweb.net/ for further possible numbers.)

http://www.loc.gov/aba/cataloging/classification/lcco/lcco_b.pdf



http://classificationweb.net/







Another example from Schedule B involves individual philosophers listed under B.

This is a list of Greek philosophers, which illustrates something of the complexity of LCC. Each philosopher may have one or more associated numbers depending on thepopularity of their philosophies, and the extent to which their published works survived.

B215 Diogenes of Apollonia Table B-BJ4

B216 Diogenes - Empedocles Subarrange each by Table B-BJ5

B218 Empedocles Table B-BJ4

B219 Empedocles - Heraclitus Subarrange each by Table B-BJ5

B220-224 Heraclitus of Ephesus Table B-BJ3

B224.A-Z Special topics, A-Z

B224.H37 Harmony

B224.I43 Identity

B224.L6 Logos

B224.5 Heraclitus - Leucippus Subarrange each by Table B-BJ5

Philosophers with only a single number have fewer materials in the library. Heraclitusfor example, has five numbers (220-224) and a list of subsidiary numbers showing youhow to arrange the materials based on the topic. Notice the references to Tables B-BJ4an B-BJ5. These tables provide additional information for subarranging works by these

particular philosophers. The subarrangement is directly dependent on how manynumbers a philosopher has.

Here is another example, this time from Economics. (HB Economic Theory--Demography).



Look at History of demography (HB 851)

History of demography

HB851 General works

HB852 Special schools

HB853.A-Z By region or country, A-Z

Notice the first line is for general works, the second for special schools and the thirdsays "By region or country, A-Z." This instruction indicates that the material would beorganised alphabetically by country name using a Cutter number. These numbers canbe generated using the Cutter table from the Subject Cataloguing Manual inCataloguer's Desktop (http://desktop.loc.gov/) or in various places on thewebhttp://libstaff.mit.edu/colserv/cat/lc/lc-cut.htm . Examples of Cutter Numbers are A7for Argentina or N4 for Netherlands.

So, a book on the history of demography in Argentina would be classed as HB853 .A7.

Another example:

Search for Mortality by country EB 1331-1527.

Economic theory. Demography--Demography. Population. Vital events--Deaths.Mortality--By region or country--America. Western Hemisphere

HB1331-1528 By region or country Table H2 Add country number in table to HB1330

Under each:

Apply Table HB1331/1 for 2 number countries

http://desktop.loc.gov/



http://libstaff.mit.edu/colserv/cat/lc/lc-cut.htm






Apply Table HB1331/2 for 1 number countries

Apply Table HB1331/2a for 2 number regions

Apply Table HB1331/3 for 1 number regions

HB1331 America. Western Hemisphere

North America

HB1333 General

United States

HB1335 General

HB1337 Northeastern States. New England

HB1339 Middle Atlantic States. Middle States

HB1341 Southern States

[...]

HB1359-1360 Canada

[etc.]

[Excerpt from Mortality by Country HB1330 in LCC.]

It says to see Table H2 and add the appropriate country number from the table toHB1330.

For a book about demography in Canada, we would go to table H2 for 2 number

countries. (Select Tables and search for the table by the LCC code H2 in LC Classweb.)

North America [H R]

H2 3 General [H R]



United States [H R]

H2 5 General [H R]

H2 7 Northeastern States. New England [H R]

H2 9 Middle Atlantic States. Middle States [H R]

H2 11 Southern States [H R]

[...]

H2 23 Pacific States [H R]

H2 25.A-.W States, A-W [H R]

For list of Cutter numbers, see Table H28

Including regions or counties within a state

H2 27.A-Z Cities, A-Z [H R]

H2 29-30 Canada [H R]

[Excerpt from LCC Table H2]

Canada has the number range 29-30. To get the full number for Canada, we add(instead of appending) the number to HB1330. This gives us HB1359 or HB1360, whichis exactly the number range given for Canada. Thus you can see this would work for acountry not listed in the schedules.

As you can see from these two examples, each part of the LCC is unique and has itsown peculiarities. This is yet another reason it is used by highly specialised researchlibraries, where the librarians have subject degrees and work almost exclusively with

material in a narrow intellectual range. A cataloguer would need to be familiar with theentire schedule of their particular area of focus in order to be effective. In large researchlibraries most academic librarians have a subject masters in addition to their LISdegrees.



Library of Congress

The Library of Congress has a number of committees responsible for maintaining and

updating LCC. The outlines and schedules for each main class can be found on their website (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/ ).

In the 1970s, many academic libraries began to reclassify their collections from DDC toLCC. Intellectual justifications for this tended to be based on the notion that Dewey wasbest suited to public libraries and that academic libraries should use a system whichwas organised by subject specialists. Also, libraries were attempting to cut costs byusing copy cataloguing and the Library of Congress provided full LCC numbers with itscatalogue cards. In truth, the two classifications provide more or less the same depth of

coverage of intellectual content and DDC may in fact be more up to date and morecentrally monitored. Recent research has demonstrated the mnemonic and syntheticfeatures ofDDC are more amenable to use in online systems.

In Class Exercise: Classification Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt to begin exploring the construction of DDC and LCC

numbers.https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/kipp/public/courses/511/511exercise-deweyscavengerhunt.html

Tools

LC Classweb (http://classificationweb.net/ ) for LCC WebDewey (http://connexion.oclc.org/ ) for DDC WebDewey Tutorial http://www.oclc.org/DEWEY/resources/tutorial/

Further Readings

The Dewey Blog. http://ddc.typepad.com/

DDC Summaries http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/




https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/kipp/public/courses/511/511exercise-deweyscavengerhunt.html










http://www.oclc.org/DEWEY/resources/tutorial/



http://ddc.typepad.com/
















LCC Outline http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/ Langridge, D.W. 1992. Classification: Its kinds, Elements, Systems, and

Applications. London: Bowker Saur. p. 2-23.

Licence

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