comparative study of major classification schemes

Presented By:Nadeem SohailLibrarianRachna College Of Engineering & Technology GujranwalaContact No. 03014236817Email: [email protected]

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MAJOR

CLASSIFICATION SCHEMES

FOR MLIS AIOU STUDENT SEMESTER 3rd.

LIBRARY COLLECTION CLASSIFICATION IMAGE

CLASSIFICATION

Act of organizing the universe of knowledge into a systematic order

Library classification – the systematic arrangement of books and other materials on shelves or of catalogue and index entries in the manner which is most useful to those who read or who seek a definite piece of information

A library classification is a system of coding and organizing library materials (books, serials, audiovisual materials, computer files, maps, manuscripts) according to their subject and allocating a call number to that information resource. Similar to classification systems used in biology, bibliographic classification systems group entities that are similar together typically arranged in a hierarchical tree structure.

LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION?

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LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION---2

In terms of functionality, classification systems are often described as

ENUMERATIVE: produce an alphabetical list of subject headings, assign numbers to each heading in alphabetical order

HIERARCHICAL: divides subjects hierarchically, from most general to most specific

FACETED OR ANALYTICO-SYNTHETIC: divides subjects into mutually exclusive orthogonal facets

LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS/ SCHEMES

Dewey Decimal Classification System Library of Congress Classification System Universal Decimal Classification System Colon Classification System Bibliographic Classification System Subject Classification System Expansive Classification System National Library of Medicine Classification

Why different Classification systems?

Although all classification systems provide access to information. Some systems work better with specific types of information or in specific types of Libraries.

Libraries choose a classification system based on three factors

1. Collection Size 2. Subjects/ Materials in the Collection3. End User

Why Different Classification Systems

For example, The DDC is a broad with classification system.

DDC categories include many subjects that are loosely related, but easy to search.

This system works well in library that have general subjects, or specific Academic subjects.

Why Different Classification Systems?

Libraries with Small to Medium collections, generally Public Libraries or School libraries favor this system for its ease of use of their patron base.

The Library of Congress Cataloging system is a much narrower system meant for use in libraries that have multiple subcategories.

Why Different Classification Systems?

Not all classification systems classify books.

Many Libraries use classification systems to classify:

Music Art Government Documents

DEWEY DECIMAL AND LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Where do these systems fit?

The most common classification systems, LC 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.

DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION (DDC)

Melville Dewey (1851-1931) invented the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) while he was working as a student-assistant in the library of Amherst College in 1873. He published the Dewey Decimal Classification system in 1876.

His original name was Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey. He dropped his middle names and changed the spelling of his first name, and he even spelled his last name “Dui”!

BRIEF INTRODUCTION

Latest edition – 5 vols, 23nd edition First came out as a 44-page

anonymously published pamphlet entitled A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloging and Arranging the Books and Pamphlets of a Library

10 MAIN CLASSES OF DDC

000 – Generalities 100 – Philosophy and Psychology 200 – Religion 300 – Social Sciences 400 – Language 500 – Natural Sciences and Mathematics 600 – Technology and Applied Sciences 700 – The Arts 800 – Literature and Rhetoric 900 – Geography and History

7 TABLES of DDC Table 1 – Standard subdivisions Table 2 – Geographic areas, historical periods, persons Table 3 – Subdivisions for individual literatures, for

specific literary forms Table 3A – Subdivisions for works by or about individual

authors Table 3B – Subdivisions for works by or about more than one

author Table 3C – Notation to be added where instructed in Table 3B

and in 808-809 Table 4 – Subdivisions of individual languages Table 5 – Racial, ethnic, national groups Table 6 – Languages Table 7 – Groups of persons

NUMBER BUILDING

The main number for bibliographies and catalogs of works on specific subjects or in specific disciplines with a note to “add to base number 016 notation 001-999” the number for the specific subject

016

The number for physics 530

The subject number added to the base number 016 530

The resulting number, terminal zero removed 016.53

Adding an entire number to a base number

A bibliography for Physics

MERITS

Practical Relative location Relative index brings together different aspects of the

same subject scattered in different disciplines Pure notation of Arabic numerals is universally

recognizable Self-evident numerical sequence Hierarchical nature of notation expresses relationships

between and among class numbers Use of decimal system enables vast expansion Mnemonic nature of notation helps library users to

navigate within the system Continuous revision and publication of the schedules

ensures currency

WEAKNESSES

Anglo-American bias Related disciplines are often separated Proper placement of certain subjects have also been

questioned Literary works of the same author are scattered

according to literary form Base of ten limits the hospitality of the notational system

by restricting the capacity for accommodating subjects on the same level of a hierarchy to nine divisions

Uneven structure No new numbers can be inserted Lengthy numbers Relocations and completely revised schedules create

practical problems in terms of reclassification

21

Begin to get the picture? 500--Natural Science

590--Zoological Sciences 590--Zoological Sciences

595--Other invertebrates 595--Other invertebrates

595.7--Insects 595.7--Insects

595.78--Lepidoptera 595.78--Lepidoptera

595.789--Butterflies 595.789--Butterflies

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CLASSIFICATION (LCC)

The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) is a system of library classification developed by the Library of Congress. It is used by most research and academic libraries in the U.S. and several other countries; for example, Australia and Taiwan, R.O.C.

LC CLASSIFICATION—HISTORY

The Library of Congress was founded in 1780

The earliest classification system was by size (folios, quartos, octavos), subdivided by accession numbers

In 1812 there were 3000 volumes and the size-based system was failing

A system with 18 categories was devised

LC CLASSIFICATION—HISTORY

In 1814 the Capitol was burned (LC’s collection was housed there)

Thomas Jefferson offered to sell Congress his library to re-establish LC He had cataloged and classified the works His scheme had 44 classes

Jefferson’s scheme (modified somewhat over the years) was used in the LC until the end of the 19th century

LC CLASSIFICATION

Different subject specialists developed each individual LC schedule following a broad general framework which was established to ensure coordination

Each schedule of a class or parts of classes was published as completed

Schedules are revised through committee review and then reissued

LCC SCHEDULES

LCC schedules comprise 43 volumes Basic schedules A short general outline which contains

secondary and tertiary subclass spans for most classes

For complete list see http://www.loc.gov/cds/classif.html#lccs

LC CLASSIFICATION

Because LCC involves letters and letter combination as well as numbers, it will continue to accommodate new subjects and aspects of subjects for a long time

LCC is favored by large university and research collections Hospitality and inherent flexibility Also used in smaller academic and public

libraries and some special libraries Doesn’t handle broad classifications well

21 MAIN CLASSES OF LCCA General worksB Philosophy, Psychology,

ReligionC Auxiliary sciences of historyD History: General and Old

WorldE General history of AmericaF Local history of AmericaG Geography, Maps,

Anthropology, RecreationH Social SciencesJ Political ScienceK Law

L EducationM Music and books on

musicN Fine artsP Language and

LiteratureQ ScienceR MedicineS AgricultureT TechnologyU Military ScienceV Naval ScienceZ Bibliography and Library

Science

MERITS

Practical system that has proved to be satisfactory Based on the literary demand of the materials in the

Library of Congress collection Enumerative system that requires minimal notational

synthesis Each schedule was developed by subject specialists Notation is compact and hospitable Frequent additions and changes, stemming for the

most part from what is needed in the day to day cataloging work at LC, and these are made readily available to the cataloging community

Minimal reclassification

WEAKNESSES

Scope notes are inferior to those of DDC. There is much national bias in emphasis and

terminology. Too few subjects are seen as compounds. Alphabetical arrangements are often used in place of

logical hierarchies. There is no clear and predictable theoretical basis for

subject analysis. As a result of maintaining stability, parts of the

classification are obsolete in the sense that structure and collocation do not reflect current conditions.

It is expensive to keep an up-to-date working collection of schedules, supplements, new announcements of changes and cumulations of additions and changes.

UNIVERSAL DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION (UDC)

The Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) is the world's foremost multilingual classification scheme for all fields of knowledge, a sophisticated indexing and retrieval tool. It was adapted by Paul Otlet and Nobel Prizewinner Henri La Fontaine from the Decimal Classification of Melvil Dewey, and first published (in French) between 1904 and 1907.

UNIVERSAL DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION (UDC) Since then, it has been extensively

revised and developed, and has become a highly flexible and effective system for organizing bibliographic records for all kinds of information in any medium (it is well suited to multi-media information collections). [Used mostly in Europe or Anglophone countries outside North America]

UNIVERSAL DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION (UDC)

Originally based on the Dewey Decimal Classification, the UDC was developed as a new analytico-synthetic classification system with a significantly larger vocabulary and syntax that enables very detailed content indexing and information retrieval in large collections.

UDC is used in around 150,000 libraries in 130 countries and in many bibliographical services which require detailed content indexing. In a number of countries it is the main classification system for information exchange and is used in all type of libraries: public, school, academic and special libraries.UDC is also used in national bibliographies of around 30 countries. Examples of large databases indexed by UDC include.

THE APPLICATION OF UDC