Classification in Theory and Practice

Classification in Theory and Practice

Second Edition

Sue Batley

Table of Contents

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

List of figures and tables

Figure

Tables

List of abbreviations

Preface to the second edition

About the author

1: Classification in theory and practice

Abstract

Introduction

Library classification

Enumerative and faceted classification

Enumerative and faceted schemes, advantages and disadvantages

Notation

Citation order and filing order

Schedules

Subject indexes

Subject analysis

Overview

2: Classification schemes for general collections

Abstract

Dewey Decimal Classification

Library of Congress Classification

3: Classification schemes for specialist collections

Abstract

Universal Decimal Classification

Faceted classification schemes

Special classification schemes

Practical exercises

4: Classifying digital resources

Abstract

Vocabulary control and thesaurus construction

Subject trees

Web directories

Taxonomies

Ontologies

Collaborative classification

Overview

5: Summary

Abstract

Classification theory and library classification schemes

Classification schemes for general collections

Classification schemes for specialist collections

Classifying digital resources

The future of classification

End note

Answers to practical exercises

Dewey Decimal Classification – DDC 23

Library of Congress Classification

Universal Decimal Classification abridged edition

Classification scheme for a photographic library

Index

Copyright

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First published in 2014

ISBN: 978-1-84334-785-9 (print)

ISBN: 978-1-78063-466-1 (online)

Chandos Information Professional Series ISSN: 2052-210X (print) and ISSN: 2052-2118 (online)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014938146

© S. Batley, 2014

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. This publication may not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without the prior consent of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions.

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List of figures and tables

Figure

4.1 Subject tree 147

Tables

1.1 Kingdom Animalia 2

1.2 Enumerative and faceted classification schemes 7

2.1 Cutter table 80

4.1 Open Directory top-level categories 151

List of abbreviations

BC   Bliss Bibliographic Classification

CC   Colon Classification

DDC   Dewey Decimal Classification

LCBS   London Classification of Business Studies

LCC   Library of Congress Classification

OCLC   Online Computer Library Center

PMEST   Personality, Matter, Energy, Space, Time

UDC   Universal Decimal Classification

Preface to the second edition

This book examines a core topic in traditional librarianship: classification. Classification has often been treated as a subset of cataloguing and indexing, with relatively few basic textbooks concentrating solely on the theory and practice of classifying resources. This book attempts to redress the balance somewhat. The aim is to demystify a complex subject by providing a sound theoretical underpinning, together with practical advice and the promotion of practical skills.

The second edition has been fully revised and updated, with new examples and practical exercises throughout. The section on Dewey Decimal Classification now focuses on the 23rd edition (2011); the section on Universal Decimal Classification has been updated to include examples from the new Religion schedules and the new Table of Properties; Chapter 4 now includes a section on collaborative classification, to reflect the increasing importance of user-generated subject labels and classifications.

The text is arranged in five chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter explores theories of classification in broad terms and then focuses on the basic principles of library classification, introducing readers to technical terminology and different types of classification scheme.

(Chapters 2 and 3 examine individual classification schemes in depth. Each scheme is explained, using frequent examples to illustrate basic features. Readers should enjoy working through the exercises, which will also enable them to gain practical skills in using the three most widely used general library classification schemes: Dewey Decimal Classification, Library of Congress Classification, and Universal Decimal Classification.)

Chapter 2: Classification schemes for general collections

Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classifications are the most useful and popular schemes for use in general libraries. The background, coverage and structure of each scheme are examined in detail in this chapter. Features of the schemes and their application are illustrated with examples.

Chapter 3: Classification schemes for specialist collections

Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress may not provide sufficient depth of classification for specialist collections. In this chapter, classification schemes that cater to specialist needs are examined. Universal Decimal Classification is superficially very much like Dewey Decimal, but possesses features that make it a good choice for specialist libraries or special collections within general libraries. It is recognised that general schemes, no matter how deep their coverage, may not meet the classification needs of some collections. One possible answer is to create a special classification scheme and this process is examined in detail here.

Chapter 4: Classifying digital resources

Classification has been reborn in recent years, with the need to organise digital information resources increasing rapidly. A lot of work in this area has been conducted within the computer science discipline, but using basic principles of classification and thesaurus construction. This chapter takes a broad view of theoretical and practical issues involved in creating formal and user-generated classifications for digital resources by examining subject trees, ontologies, and collaborative classification.

Chapter 5: Summary

This chapter provides a brief overview of the concepts explored in depth in previous chapters and some musings upon the future of classification. These are interesting and challenging times for classification as understood and practised by information professionals. Our formal, standardised representations of the world of knowledge are, in some environments at least, being replaced by more personal and idiosyncratic interpretations of how information should be organised.

Using this book

The development of practical skills is emphasised throughout the text. It is only through using classification schemes that a deep understanding of their structure and unique features can be gained. Although all the major schemes covered in the text are available on the web, it is recommended that hard-copy versions are used by those wishing to become acquainted with their overall structure. Many of these schemes, notably Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classifications, originate and are published in the United States; and so original, American spellings have been used as appropriate when providing examples from published classification schemes. Recommended readings are supplied at the end of each chapter and indicate useful sources of additional information and detail.

Classification demands precision and the application of analytical skills. Working carefully through the examples and the practical exercises should help readers to improve these faculties. Anyone who enjoys cryptic crosswords should recognise a parallel: classification often involves taking the meaning of something apart and then reassembling it in a different way. Both can be satisfying, even enjoyable.

About the author

Sue Batley was a Senior Lecturer and Leader of the MA Information Management course at the London Metropolitan University until 2013. She completed a PhD on factors affecting the retrieval of information from picture databases in 1989, and worked as a subject librarian before becoming a full-time lecturer in 1996. Her teaching and research have centred upon the areas of organisation and retrieval of information and knowledge resources. She is also author of Information Architecture for Information Professionals (Chandos) and co-author of Practical Cataloguing (Facet).

1

Classification in theory and practice

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to basic classification theory, followed by a brief historical account and an examination of library classification schemes, their principles and features; the challenge of transferring knowledge structures into accessible physical structures. Technical terminology is explained; and there is a brief introduction of DDC, LCC and UDC. There are also sections on enumerative and faceted classification schemes, examining their advantages and disadvantages and referencing CC and BC. Also covered are notation, with all the associated requirements, citation order and filing order, alphabetical subject indexes and subject analysis.

Keywords

citation order

classification

classification schedules

classification schemes

enumerative classification

faceted classification

filing order

library classification

notation

subject indexes

subject analysis

Introduction

We have an innate ability to classify things. At this visceral level classification is unconscious, we classify things to simplify our world and make sense of it. Classification is something we do all the time; we structure our lives and navigate our environment through a largely unrecognised system of classification schemes.

Classification is simply grouping together things which are alike. It is thereby imposing some sort of structure on our understanding of the things around us. We all have our own personal classification of everything we encounter in the world, which we have developed through our experiences. One person might classify dogs under dangerous animals to be avoided; another person might classify dogs as friendly animals to have around the house. Classification helps us to simplify the world. Here is an example of a classification scheme:

This is how the biological sciences make sense of, or impose order on the animal kingdom. Within the phylum chordata, there is a subphylum, vertebrata; within that subphylum there is a class, mammalia; within that class there is a subclass, theria, and within that subclass there is an infraclass, eutheria. This is where, in this table, the hierarchy stops, but we can continue to subdivide until we reach a point where we no longer have a group, we have an individual instance. Within the infraclass eutheria, we recognise an order, primates. Within that order there is a family, hominidae, within that family there is a genus, homo, within that genus there is a species, homo sapiens, and within that species there is – you.

The phyla in the above example are like the main classes in a library classification scheme. We can recognise similarities and differences between animals within a phylum, so we can subdivide to recognise these similarities and differences. The classes within the subphylum vertebrata all have common attributes, but we do not need taxonomic science to tell us that mammals and birds, for example, are different. We have our own informal classifications, which tell us that sparrows and pigeons are different but that they have more in common with each other than either has with dogs.

We can identify various levels of classification: personal and shared, informal and formal. The whole point of classification is that we do not have to understand everything we experience as unique; we can place it within a structure that recognises its properties without having to make individual sense of it.

The animal kingdom classification is a very complex example of a formal classification scheme, but there are simpler examples of conscious or imposed classification all around us. When we go into a record store we notice that it has been organised according to media with sections for music, television and film, and games, for example. If we are looking for music we will find that items have been classified according to format: downloads, CDs, vinyl, and so on. Within formats, music has been organised into genres: classical, jazz, rock, R & B, dance, etc. Our ability to navigate most retail outlets depends upon a shared understanding of how they are classified. Everyone has experienced frustration when a classification scheme does not meet expectations. Supermarkets can deliberately shelve items that have similarities in different parts of the store to expose customers to the widest possible range of products. This might make commercial sense in a supermarket but is not to be recommended in a library.

So far we have seen that classification helps us to organise, to make sense of things. We have also seen that the way in which we make sense of things can be both uniquely personal or shared with other members of a group of which we are a part: social, professional, cultural, etc. A problem for anyone designing classification systems that are meant to be shared is that there will be many different ways in which the same concepts or objects can be classified. We certainly cannot assume that the way in which we make sense of the world is shared by others.

‘Whatever the objects which a person discerns or is capable of discerning, their totality may be classified in more ways than one. … A classification may strike one as more or less natural; and a classification which seems natural to some people may seem wholly unnatural to others.’ ¹

Perhaps one of the most entertaining and influential ways to illustrate the above point is to use Borges’s description of the Chinese encyclopaedia’s classification from which arose Foucault’s The Order of Things. ‘On those remote pages it is written that animals are divided into (a) those that belong to the emperor, (b) embalmed ones, (c) those that are trained, (d) suckling pigs, (e) mermaids, (f) fabulous ones, (g) stray dogs, (h) those that are included in this classification, (i) those that tremble as if they were mad, (j) innumerable ones, (k) those drawn with a very fine camel’s hair brush, (l) others, (m) those that have just broken a flower vase, (n) those that resemble flies from a distance’. ²

Borges goes on to suggest that the religion schedules of the Universal Decimal classification scheme (and Dewey Decimal Classification, upon which UDC is based) display a similarly idiosyncratic ordering of concepts, but one which has become standardised through familiarity and repetition. The mere fact that a particular classification has established itself as a standard does not guarantee that it presents a ‘correct’ interpretation of how knowledge should be organised. DDC is steeped in an individual’s world view; we largely ignore that because of its familiarity. In including a modern, standard classification in his critique, Borges is, as Foucault realised, making a point about classificatory systems in general: that they are all flawed because they incorporate their creator’s personal interpretation of the world.

This helps to make an important point when considering classification in a theoretical sense, and one which certainly assists in our assessment of library classification schemes.

Library classification

In today’s library world, dominated by the Dewey