Classification of Resources II: Public Library Schemes

Classification Definitions:

• The act of organizing a body of knowledge into a systematic order
• In libraries: The systematic arrangement by subject of books and other materials on shelves, or of catalog and index entries, in a manner that is most useful to those who read or those who seek a definite piece of information
• Shelving Device
• Organization Device

Characteristics of a Classification System 

• Inclusive and comprehensive
• Systematic
• Flexible and expansive/hospitable to new knowledge
• Employ terminology that is clear and desriptive
• Indexed

Notational Systems

• Notation marks (a.k.a. "classmarks") represent a book's subject class, including its relation to other subject classes in a classification scheme. 
• Most common types:
• Pure - e.g. DDC employs Arabic numerals
• Mixed - e.g. LLC employs an alpha-numeric notation
• Mnemonics:
• Repeating class notation patterns throughout classification
• This technique is also used in the MaRC system

Shelf Arrangement and Sub-arrangement

• Library classification schemes provide:
• A systematic method for shelf arrangement in open stack libraries
• A systematic method for sub-arrangement within each class
• To accomplish this goal, catalogers synthesize (i.e., create) class numbers to represent the subject of a book. 
• This process remains transparent to the user, i.e., the user is more interested in the fact that books are collocated on the shelf rather than how the numbers were determined.

Historical Development of DDC

• First published in 1876 - "A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloging and Arranging the Books and Pamphlets of a Library."
• Current edition: 23rd 
• Electronic version available
• Most widely used classification scheme in the world (135 countries - translated into 30 languages)
• Innovations:
• Relative index
• Integrity of numbers (with 2nd edition)

Conceptual Framework of DDC

• Basic classes are organized by discipline (i.e., fields of study).
• Divisions of DDC:
• Ten main classes (0XX, 1XX, 2XX, etc), which together cover the entire world of knowledge
• Each main class is divided into ten divisions (100 total divisions in DDC)
• Each division is divided into ten sections (1000 total sections in DDC)
• Class 000 is most general
• Used for works not limited to any specific discipline (e.g., encyclopedias, newspapers, general periodicals)
• Used for certain specialized disciplines that deal with knowledge and information (e.g., library science, computer science, journalism)
• Each of the other main classes (1XX to 9XX) comprises a major disciplien or group of related disciplines. 
• DDC IS ARRANGED PRIMARILY BY DISCIPLINE AND NOT BY SUBJECT; therefore, a given subject is likely to appear under more than one class numbers.

Relative Index

• Disciplinary focus of DDC causes subjects to be scattered across the classification; the Relative Index to the schedules is needed to collocate. 
• Relative index relates subjects to the various disciplines to which they may belong:
• Journalism - generally found at 070.4
• Journalism - civil rights issues at 323.445
• Journalism - sociology at 302.23
• Dewey's theoretical contribution to library classification.

Principle of Hierarchy

• Structural Hierarchy (inheritance):
• Whatever is true of the whole is true of the parts
• This is termed "hierarchical force"
• EXAMPLE:
• All classmarks under 5XX are related to the natural sciences and/or mathematics
• All classmarks under 612.1... are related to blood and circulation
• Notational hierarchy (relationships between concepts):
• Subordinate: 621.4 is subordinate to 621
• Coordinate: 621.4 is coordinate with 621.6
• Superordinate: 621 is superordinate to 621.4

Revision Process for DDC

• Suggestions sent to Library of Congress
• Reviewed by:
• LC - Decimal Classification Division
• OCLC - Forest Press
• 6 DDC editors
• Editorial Policy Committee (EPC)
• Role of EPC (Editorial Policy Committee)
• Works closely with DDC editors to:
• Suggest changes
• Facilitate innovations
• Monitor general development of the Classification
• Reviews all versions of the Classification:
• Print
• WebDewey
• Full edition
• Abridged edition
• EPC Membership
• 10 member international committee
• Elected membership represents Dewey users worldwide
• Members come from all types of libraries
• Current representation:
• American Library Association
• Australian Committee on Cataloging
• Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
• Library of Congress
• National Library of Canada
• OCLC
• Types of Revisions
• Expansion:
• Introduction of new subject as part of a class scheme
• Provides more minute subdivisions
• Reduction:
• Rarely used subdivisions are deleted and marked by brackets([]) in the class scheme listing
• "Starvation policy" allows DDC to phase out the deleted numbers with the next edition printed
• Relocations:
• To rectify an improper placement
• To eliminate duel provisions
• To make room for new subjects when there is not available number room
• To realign fields of knowledge
• Reconstructed Schedules ("Phoenix schedules")
• An entire schedule is reconstructed without regard to previous divisions
• Rarely used due to integrity of numbers practice

Classifying with DDC

• First, determine subject of work
• Subject analysis is central to library classification
• Must determine the intent of the author by examining:
• Title - never the sole source 
• Table of contents - lists main topics discussed
• Preface and introduction - can indicate author's intent
• Scanning text, itself - provides guidance and confirmation
• Bibliographic references - can also list topics discussed
• Outside sources - helpful for verifying advanced subject
• Second, determine discipline of work
• Guiding principle is that a work is classed int he discipline for which it is intended rather than in the discipline from whicht he work is derived
• This enables works that are used together to be shelved together
• EXAMPLE: Zoologist's book on agricultura pest control would be classed with other books on pest conrtol rather than with other books on zoology.
• Third, translate findings into appropriate DDC class

     *NB*

• What to do with multiple subjects/same discipline:
• Class works covering interrelated subjects with the subject that is being acted upon (rule of application):
• "Shakespeare's Influence on Keats" with Keats
• "Great Depression's Impact on American Art" with American Art
• Class works covering two subjects equally with the subject whose number appears first in the schedules (first-of-two rule):
• There may be exceptions in instructions in the schedules
• Class works covering three or more subjects that are all subdivisions of a broader subject with the first higher subject that includes them all (rule of three):
• "History of Portugal [946.9, Sweden [948.5] and Greece [949.5]" is classed with the history of Europe at 940.
• What to do with more than one discipline:
• These works are examples of interdisciplinary research
• Interdisciplinary is predictable; therefore, there may already be a place in the schedules for works that are interdisciplinary:
• Check for interdisciplinary numbers such as 305.231
• Class works not give an interdisciplinary number in the discipline given the fullest treatment.

Key Features of Schedules and Tables

• Summaries
• Summaries provide an overview of the structure of a class
• "Birds Eye View" of a section of the DDC to help classifier to focus in on the possible classes numbers for a work
• Because of hierarchical force, summaries at main class, divisional and sectional levels hold for all subordinate class numbers
• Entries
• Each entry contains a Dewey class number and descriptive information:
• Heading
• Notes
• Additional Dewey class numbers may be:
• In parenthesis - these numbers provide alertatives to standard practices
• In brackets - these numbers represent subjects that have been discontinued or relocated
• Notes
• Notes provide additional information that is not obvious from a class' position in the notational hierarchy.
• Classes of notes:
• Notes that describe what is found in a class
• Including notes
• Notes that describe what is found in other classes
• Notes that explain changes or irregularities
• Scope notes - definition used within a knowledge organizing system to say what a term means within that system (see 700)
• Former-heading notes reflect that the formal label for the classmark has changed (see 281.63)
• Variant-name notes notate that a specific number goes by different names (see 332.32)
• Class-here notes - confirmation that you're in the correct place (see 371.192)
• Including notes - "Including" is a code word that notates a specific number is about to go through an expansion (see 362.16)
• Class-elsewhere notes - offers other places that the book might ought to be placed(see 791.43)
• See references notes (see 577.7)
• See-also references (see 584.3)
• Revision notes are used to indicate when a subdivision or class has been completely or extensively revised.
• Discontinued notes - (see 004.696)
• Relocation notes - (see 687.43)

Number Building

• Synthesis of two numbers to create a complex Dewey class number.
• Can be multiple Dewey numbers synthesized into a single number:
• Book on advertising in libraries (659.1902)
• Use 659.19 for advertising in special organizations
• 02 for libraries (dropping the trailing 0 from 020)
• Can be synthesized:
• Using one of seven Dewey tables
• Using a "Number-built note" (see 353.13263

DDC Tables

• Table 1 - Standard Subdivisions:
• Contains mnemonics for standard subdivisions
• Used to add facets to the class number (education is 072, geographical is 09, etc)
• Used to connect a subject with a standard facet
• - 01 Philosophy and theory
• - 02 Miscellany
• - 03 Dictionaries, encyclopedias, concordances
• - 04 Special topics
• - 05 Serial publications
• - 06 Organizations and management
• - 07 Education, research, related topics
• - 08 History/ description with respect to kinds of persons
• - 09 Historical, geographic, persons treatment
• When analyzing Table One numbers (and Table One numbers ONLY), looking for the connecting "0" between subject and facet
• Look up subject class in the schedules
• Look up facet class in Table One
• Most of the time, the connecting "0" is the first occurence:
• 635.13074 = 635.13 for Carrots and 074 for catalogs
• But not always: 020.25 = 020 for LIS and 025 for Directories
• Table 2 - Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Persons:
• Contains mnemonics for geographical areas, etc. 
• Used to add geographic facets to the class number:
• United States: 973
• Southeastern States: 975
• Alabama: 976.1
• Tuscaloosa County: 976.184
• Table 3 - Subdivisions for the Arts, for Individual Literatures, for Specific Literary Forms:
• Contains mnemonics for subdivisions for the arts, for individual literatures, for specific literary forms
• Tables 3A-3C needed to determine specific notation to be used
• Table 4 - Subdivisions of individual languages and language families
• Table 5 - Racial, ethnic, national groups
• Table 6 - Languages
• Table 7 - Groups of persons

Article Summary for Lecture # 4 - Carlyle

Understanding FRBR As a Conceptual Model

FRBR and the Bibliographic Universe

Allyson Carlyle, in her article, examines FRBR’s status as a model, and seeks to clarify what it is, what it is not, and what it attempts to do. In essence, FRBR is a conceptual model (or a model of a model – if one considers that a bibliographic record is a representation of a document). Carlyle begins with the deconstruction by reviewing the multiple definitions of “model”. A model can be:

1)      a representation of something (sometimes on a smaller scale)

2)      a schematic description of a system, theory, or phenomenon that accounts for its known or inferred properties and may be used for further study of its characteristics: a model of generative grammar; a model of an atom; an economic model

3)      a simplified description of a complex entity or process

4)      a preliminary work or construction that serves as a plan from which a final product is to be made: a clay model ready for casting.

           Being a conceptual model (sometimes referred to as an abstract model), it is entirely theoretical. This is a major strength, because it helps to facilitate understanding and allows manipulation of complex entities by making them less complex. Conceptual models can also model just about anything, and FRBR is a great way to make something that is abstract into something that is concrete. For example, trying to model love – an abstract concept. In order to make a model of love, we need to operationalize it. How many times two people kiss each other, how much time do they spend together, or whether or not they live together can be observable items that help model love.

        The FRBR Group 1 entities work and expression are abstract ideas that have a lot in common with love. In order to verify the existence of work and expression we need to know:

1)      What documents say about themselves and what others say about them

2)      What people say when they want to find a document – for example:

a.       Do you have Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf? (expression)

b.      Do you have Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time? (work)

Since FRBR is such a specific type of conceptual model, it can be referred to as an entity-relationship (ER) model. Carlyle describes ER modeling as a technique that specifies the structure of a conceptual model (i.e. the kinds of things that have to be in it and the properties those things may have). For FRBR, and an ER model, three things are allowed in it: entities (things – either physical or abstract), attributes (properties or characteristics of entities and relationships), and relationships (interactions among entities). 

       The developers of FRBR aimed to “produce a framework that would provide a clear, precisely stated, and commonly shared understanding of what it is that the bibliographic record aims to provide information about.” However, to clearly understand FRBR, it pays to look at other models.

•  One Entity Model – the only entity recognized it “item” or ‘copy”
• Two-Entity Model – recognizes editions as well as copies
• Three-Entity Model – recognizes editions, copies, and “literary unit” (a.k.a. work)
•  Four-Entity Model – recognizes editions, copies, works, and “text”

FRBR is new and different from these models in that it identifies and defines four entities, recognizes four entities simultaneously, and present a cataloging model using an ER modeling technique. However, according to Carlyle, one of the greatest challenges in implementing FRBR in a code of rules is determining which items will be assigned by catalogers to which set. In the implementation process, decisions about the boundaries of the abstract entities work and expression must be made. (e.g. will a movie version of an original textual work be considered an expression of that work, or will it be considered to be a new work with a derivative relationship to the original?

      Ultimately, Carlyle concludes that successful implementation of FRBR will help patrons successfully perform searches by presenting information about complex works in helpful and intelligent ways, and encourages the viewing of FRBR as a continuation/natural extension of cataloging models used over the centuries cataloging has been around. I would agree with her summarization and emphasis of embracing FRBR. As I have said in previous posts, the job of an information organizer to get quality information into the hands of users through the easiest means. FRBR takes complex entries, and helps break down the information (entities) in such a way retrieval is easy. If you are interested in FRBR, or think you should try and figure out what FRBR is about or clarify a muddy view of the model, this is the perfect article for you!

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If you want to read more about this topic, be sure to check out the whole article (citation below)!
Carlyle, A. (2006). Understanding FRBR as a conceptual model: FRBR and the bibliographic universe. Library Resources & Technical Services 50:264-73