CLASSIFICATION: A REVIEW

OUTLINE

• Definition of Terms• Principles and Guidelines in Classification• The Library Classification Systems• Dewey Decimal Classification System• Library of Congress Classification System• Shelflisting and Filing Catalog Records

DEFINITIONS

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

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

• Refers to a library classification scheme, e.g. Dewey Decimal Classification System, Library of Congress Classification System

• Basis for organizing a library collection

CALL NUMBER

• Class number – notation that designates the class to where the material belongs

• Book/Item number/Author number• Others

– Date– Volume number– Copy number– Place mark

BROAD AND CLOSE CLASSIFICATION

• Broad Classification – a classification that does not provide for minute subdivision of topics.

• Close Classification – a classification that provides for minute subdivision of topics

NOTATION

A system of symbols used to represent the classes and divisions of a classification scheme.

Types:• Pure notation • Mixed notation• Hierarchical notation• Expressive notation

PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES IN

CLASSIFICATION

CLASSIFYING LIBRARY MATERIALS IN GENERAL

• Determine subject content• Consider usefulness• Make subject the primary concern• Use most specific class number available• Do not classify from the index alone• Do not classify from the title of the material

alone

CLASSIFYING MULTITOPICAL OR MULTIELEMENT WORKS

• Classify under dominant subject• Classify under the subject being influenced• Classify under subject, not the biased element• Classify under subject instead of the tool applied

to the subject• Class under first subject non-dominant topics• Class under broader subject 3 or more topics

LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS

• 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

THE DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

BRIEF INTRODUCTION

• Devised by Melvil Dewey (l85l-1939)

• Latest edition – 5 vols, 22nd 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

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 infinite 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

FORMS OF REVISION

• Reduction

• Expansion

• Relocation

10 MAIN CLASSES

• 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

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

Number Building

Number for all serial publications as indicated in the index

050

Number in schedule for serial publications in Slavic languages with instruction: “add to base number 057, the numbers following 037 in 037.1-037.9

057

Number for Russian 037.1

Add the number following 037 to base number 057 1

Resulting number 057.1

Adding a fraction of a number or fractions of numbers to a base number

A general Russian periodical 057.1

AUXILIARY TABLES

• 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

NOTES

• Definition notes – indicate the meaning of a term heading

004.7 PeripheralsInput, output, storage devices that work with a computer but are not part of its central processing unit or internal storage

Notes

• Scope notes indicate whether the meaning of the number is narrower or broader than is apparent from the heading

700 The ArtsDescription, critical appraisal, techniques, procedures,

apparatus, equipment, materials of the fine, decorative, literary, performing recreational arts

Notes

• Number-built Notes - source of built numbers

353.13263 Foreign service Number built according to instructions under 352-

354

Notes

• Former heading notes

--983.2 Quechuan (Kechuan) and Aymaran

languages Former heading: Andean languages

Notes

• Variant-name notes – used for synonyms and near synonyms

332.32Savings and loan associationVariant names: building and loan associations

Notes

• Class here notes – list major topics in class which may be broader or narrower than the heading

371.92Parent-school relations Class here parent participation in schools;

comprehensive works on teacher-parent relations

Notes

• Including notes – identify topics that have standing room in the number where the note is found

374.22Groups in adult educationIncluding discussion, reading, self-help, special

interest

Notes

• Class-elsewhere notes – lead the classifier to interrelated topics, or distinguish among numbers in the same notational hierarchy

791.43Motion picturesClass photographic aspects of motion pictures in

778.53; class made-for-TV movies, videotapes of motion pictures in 791.45

Notes

• See references – lead from a stated or implied comprehensive number for a concept to the component parts of the concept

577.7 Marine ecologyClass here Liliales, LiliesFor Orchidales, see 584.4See also 583.29 for water lilies

Notes

• Discontinued notes – indicate that all or part of the contents of a number have been moved to a more general number in the same hierarchy, or have been dropped entirely

[516.361] Local and intrinsic differential geometry Number discontinued

Notes

• Relocation notes – state that all or part of the contents have been moved to a different number

[370.19] Sociology of education Sociology of education relocated to 306.43

Notes

• Do-not-use notes – instruct the classifier not to use all or part of the regular standard subdivision notation or an add table provision in favor of a special or standard subdivisions at a broader number

[374.809] Historical, geographic, person treatment

Do not use; class in 374.9

AUTHOR NOTATION

• Initial of author’s last name

Ex. D H

• For slightly larger collections, the several letters of the main entry

Ex. Dic Hen

• May use author’s surname

Ex. Dickenson Henson

CUTTER NUMBER

• Book number or item number

• Based on initials of main entry

Dewes514

Dewey515

Dewil 516

Cutter number for Dewey – D515

• Where there is no Cutter number that fits a name exactly, use the first of the two numbers closest to the name.

T325 for Thackeray based on

Thacher 325

Thad 326

• Cutter numbers are treated decimally therefore any number can be extended by adding extra digits at its end. Usually number 5 or 6 is chosen as the extra digit to give room on both sides for future interpolation. Zero (0) is normally excluded because it is usually mistaken for the letter o. Sm52 Benjamin Smith

Sm53 Charles Smith

Sm525 Brian Smith

• When two authors classified in the same number share the same Cutter number in the table, assign a different number for the second author by adding a digit.

M315 MannM315 Heinrich MannM3155Thomas Mann

• Names beginning with Mc, M’ and Mac are treated as though they were spelled Mac.

• When the main entry is under title, the Cutter number is taken from the first word of the title, articles disregarded.

• For individual biographies, the Cutter number is taken from the name of the biographee rather than from the main entry.

• For collective biographies, the Cutter number is based from the main entry.

WORK MARK or WORK LETTER

• It is added to the Cutter number to distinguish different titles on the same subject by the same author.

• In some cases, when books in a series by the same author on the same subject begin with the same word, it is customary to use the first letter from each key word in the titles.

DDC CALL NUMBER

• Example for the book Philippine politics by Alberto Lazo published in 1992:

F (place mark for Filipiniana)

320 (class no. for political science)

L45p (book no. for Lazo & work mark)

1992 (date)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CLASSIFICATION

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

• Each of the main classes, except E, F, and Z is divided into subclasses that represent disciplines or major branches of the main class

• Each subdivision is further divided into ‘divisions’

MERITS

• Practical system that has proved to be satisfactory• Based on the literary warrant 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.

LC CLASS NUMBER

• Uses a three-element pattern: single capital letters for main classes with one or two capital letters for their subclasses, Arabic integers from 1 to 9999 for subdivisions and Cutter numbers for individual books

LCC CALL NUMBER

Examples:

HN N

113.5 6530

.F74 .L8

1995 G47

1996

CUTTER NUMBER

• As part of class number

• As book or item number

TABLES OF GENERAL APPLICATION

• Tables for geographic division by means of Cutter numbers – Regions and countries in one alphabet – provides

alphabetical arrangement of countries by means of Cutter numbers. It is used whenever the schedule gives the instruction “By country, A-Z” or “By region or country, A-Z”

– United States – contains a list of the states and regions of the United States

– Canadian provinces

• Biography table – When works about a person, including

autobiography, letters, speeches, and biography are classed in a number designated for individual biography, they are subarranged according to the biography table.

TABLES OF LIMITED APPLICATION

• Tables applicable to an individual class or subclass – Geography tables in class S– Geography tables in class H– Author tables in Class P

• Tables for internal subarrangement

AUXILIARY TABLES

• Form tables

• Geographic tables

• Chronological tables

• Subject subdivision tables

• Combination tables

NOTES

• Scope notes – explain the type of works to be classified at that subject, may refer the classifier to related topics elsewhere in the schedule or in another schedule.

QH 540 Ecology Class here works on general ecology and general

animal ecology

Notes

• Including notes – list topics which are included within a subject.

SF 101 Animal culture Brands and branding, and other means of

identifying including cattle marks and earmarks

Notes

• See notes – refer the classifier to a number elsewhere in the schedules, often as a result of reclassification decision.

QH 540 Ecology For ecology of a particular topographic area

See GF 101 +

Notes

• Confer notes – indicate that related topics are classified elsewhere in the schedules.

QH 540 Ecology Cf. HX550.E25 Communism and ecology

Cf. QH546 Ecological genetics

Notes

• Apply table at notes – refer the classifier to a table with subdivision instructions, so that the same instruction is not repeated on the same page or several times over a couple of pages.

NK 3650.5 A-Z By region or country, A-Z

Apply table at NK 3649.35 A-Z

SHELFLISTING

• Process of preparing and maintaining library shelflist records

• The shelflist consists of duplicates of main entry records arranged by call no.

• It is used for inventory control and observance of the principle of unique call numbers of cataloged materials.

FILING CATALOG RECORDS

• In manually prepared catalogs, entries are arranged alphabetically as in the dictionary or divided catalogs, and in classified order as in the shelflist.

• In an online catalog, arrangement of stored records depends on how a given system is designed. Some systems display retrieved items either alphabetically, chronologically or in classified order.