LIS Notes for Competitive Examinations 9 : Library Classification Introduction

The word Classification derived from the Latin word Classis.

The Library Classification used in the arrangement of documents in the library and the catalogue of it. While Bibliographic Classification is a scheme of classification which use to arrange all bibliographic databases.

Definitions

• Margaret Mann defines "Classification is the act of arranging things according to their likeness and unlikeness. It is a sorting or grouping of things."

• According to Richardson "Classification is putting together like things."

• Berwick Sayers defines library Classification as "The arrangement of books on shelves or description of them, in a manner which is the most useful to those who read."

• New Encyclopedias Britannica defines library classification as "a system of arrangement adopted by a library to enable patrons to find its material quickly and easily."

The purpose of library Classification : Helpful sequence, Correct replacement, Mechanised arrangement, Addition of new documents, weeding out, preparation of library catalogue, preparation of Index, etc 

Division of Subjects (Universe of knowledge)

• Basic subject: A subject without any isolate idea as components. Example - Mathematics, Physics, History, Library and Information Science, etc.

• Compound subject: A subject with a basic subject and one or more isolate ideas as components. Example- Mining of Coal, History of Literature, Treatment in Ayurveda, etc

• Complex subject: A subject formed by coupling two or more subjects expounding, or on the basis of some relation between them. According to Ranganathan, “if a document or a work deals with or contains description of interrelationship, comparison, etc. among two or more basic subjects or compound then such a subject of the work or document is deemed to be of type complex subject.” Example - Statistics if Election in India, Impact of Space Science in Agriculture, Education in Economic Growth, etc.

In a Library Classification System notations are used to represent subject of documents to be arranged, in order to get an ordinal sequence. A notation is an ordered serial number of symbols representing terms or subjects.

Dr. S.R. Ranganathan, defines notational system as “a system of ordinal numbers used to represent the classes in a scheme for classification”.

Types of Library Classification

• Universal Classification Schemes : Covers all subjects (Universe of Knowledge). Example Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), Library of Congress Classification (LCC), etc.
• Specific Classification Schemes: Classification for  a particular subject area or group of subject or for a particular types of materials. Example: National Library of Medicine Classification (for Medicine), British Catalogue for Music Classification ( for Music), Dickinson Classification (for Music), Iconclass (for Art), etc.
• National Schemes: A classification scheme specially designed for a country is come under National Schemes. Example: Swedish Library Classification System

 

According to functional formation of classification system it can be  classified as ;

• Enumerative  System: Subject headings are arranged alphabetically and numbers are given to each subject.Example Library of Congress Classification System.
• Hierarchical: The subjects are arranged hierarchically from most general to most specific. Example: Dewey Decimal Classification
• Faceted Classification / Analytico Synthetic Classification: Subjects are arranged as facets and the class number is formed by synthesizing them according to specific  rules. Example Colon Classification , Universal Decimal Classification.