Classification of Resources III: Research Library Schemes

Classification Definitions

• Classification - 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

Characteristic of a Classification System

• Inclusive and comprehensive
• Systematic
• Flexible and expansive (i.e. hospitable)
• Employ terminology that is clear and descriptive
• Indexed

Classified Shelf Arrangement of Books

• Collocating objective: bringing like things together on library shelves:
• Subject criterion: But what about books on multiple topics?
• Author criterion: But what about books by multiple authors?
• Need a system for the unique identification of resources in open stack libraries through the use of notational systems and call numbers.

Notational Systems

• Notation marks (aka "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., LCC 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 int he fact that books are collocated on the shelf rather than how the numbers were determined.

Cuttering to Create a Call Number

• Used to create call numbers (UIs) for individual library collections.
• Provides the link between the surrogate record an the actual item in the collection
• Provides for both subject and non-subject (e.g. author) oriented sub-arrangement in open stack libraries. 
• After the class notation is determined, then the cuttering process begins.
• Use a cutter table:
• There may be more than one cutter table floating around!
• Cuttering is a flexible process; only use table as a guide
• Steps for cuttering:
• Determine the first letter of main entry (most often taken from 100 tag; but could be 245 tag)
• Use number associated with second letter of main entry
• Add additional numbers until call number is unique 
• Add date
• You may have 1 or 2 cutter numbers, BUT you may never have 3.
• In the LCC, cuttering instructions are given in the schedules:
• Assists in topical, geographical and other non-main entry-based sub-arrangement
• Occasionally, this involves double cuttering, thus precluding the use of main entry-based cutters. 

LCC - General Points

• Mixed notations
• All letters are not used (reserved for expansion)
• Subject specialists develop and maintain the class schedules, rather than centralized editors as is the case with the DDC.
• Designed to meet the needs of the collection of the Library of Congress.
• Based on literary warrant: Schedules developed with reference to what has been published. 
• Hierarchical; however, NOT reflected in notation. 
• LCC Classification outline:
• Divided into main classes according to academic discipline or areas of study and then into sub-classes representing branches of those disciplines
• Larger range of letters for History (C-G) and Social Sciences (H-L)
• Numericals used range from 1-9999 with frequent gaps

LCC is Essentially Enumerative

• Aspects of subjects are explicitly provided for (i.e. enumerated) in the schedules:
• More "pigeonholes" created in advance to represent very specific topics and topical aspects.
• However, tables are also used to synthesize complex class notations (not as often as with the DDC)
• As an enumerative classification, the LCC schedules are more voluminous than many other schemes:
• 50 volumes
• 10,000 pages.

Consistent Structuring: Martel's 7 points

• Initially, Charles Martel provided basis for consistent structuring across divisions:
• General forms: periodicals, societies, dictionaries, etc
• Theory, Philosophy
• History
• Treatises, General works
• Law, Regulations, State relations (now relocated to K)
• Study and teaching
• Special subjects and their subdivision from general to specific

LCC has Many Editors 

• LCC has been referred to as a series of special classifications (though compare with NLM)
• However, individual LCC schedules are structured identically:
• Preface
• Broad outline
• Detailed outline
• The schedule, itself
• Any necessary, auxiliary tables
• Detailed index

Revising LCC with Topic Subdivisions

• Constitute the bulk of the expansion of classes and subclasses
• EXAMPLE: Women Suffrage in U.S. (JK1880)
• Note geographical subdivision of "Women's Suffrage. Women's right to vote" - in this case, cutter by location
• Also note geographic subdivision under subtopic "Biography"

Procedures for Revision and Expansion

• Proposals for changes originate with LC catalogers:
• Anomalies
• New topics
• Some methods for expansion:
• Using unused letters (I, O,W, X and Y)
• Adding a third letter (or sometimes a fourth)
• Extending existing numbers decimally
• Expanding use of cuttering

General Steps for Classifying with LCC

• Because of disciplinary aspects of LCC, first check for appropriate schedule to match subject of item in hand and then determine the best class number within the selected schedule. 
• Class item in hand with similar works:
• Consult existing records
• Consult class numbers mapped from assigned LCSH
• Consult LCC outlines

Classifying General Works

• Under most numbers with subdivisions, a number is designated for "general works."

Classifying Works on Single Topics

• Always use the most specific class number that is co-extensive with the subject matter of the work.
• If no co-extensive number exists, then the next appropriate broader number should be used. 

Classifying Works by Time Period

• For works treating a topic with regard to a particular time period. For those works spanning two periods use earliest. 
• DC History of France:
• DC725 Earliest to 1515
• DC727 16th century
• DC729 17th-18th century
• DC731 1789-1815
• DC733 1815-1870
• DC735 1871-1914
• DC736 1914-1921
• DC737 1922-

Multi-Faceted Single Topic Works

• Works covering multiple facets of a single topic.
• If available, use a class number representing all facets:
• Idea of the English landscape painter: genius as Alibi in the eary ninetheenth century by Kay Dian Kriz
• ND1354.5.K75 1997
• If number covering all facets is not available, go with the emphasized or more prominent facet:
• Elizabethan mineatures, by Carl Winter
• ND1337.G7.W5 1955

Classifying Works on Multiple Topics

• A work on two or three topics treated equally:
• Use number for the topic treated first
• QD412.A7 C53 1994 - Chemistry of organic arsenic, antimony, and bismuth compounds
• A work on four or more topics:
• Use a general number that encompasses all numbers chosen
• RA566.3.C48 1992 - Changing U.S. health care; a study of four metropolitan areas

Classifying Works with Phase Relations

• A work covering the relationship between two topics is classed in the most specific number covering the relationship:
• QK46.5.H85 P66 2001 - Botany of desire; a plant's eye view of the world
• QK46.5.H85 - Botany > Human-plant relationship
• A work covering the influence of one topic on another is classed with the topic being influenced:
• LA2317.T8 M3 1899x - Henry Tutwiler and the influence of the University of Virginia on education in Alabama
• LA2317.T8 - History of U.S. Education > Individual biography

Cuttering for Geographical Aspects

• Geographical cuttering option is often available in parts of the schedules:
• Use either general or specialized cutter table
• EXAMPLE:
• Visual Arts Education:
• N353.A-W - General works in Visual Arts in U.S.
• N354.A-Z - General works in Visual Arts in a state
• N355.A-Z - General works in Visual arts in a city

Cuttering Sub-topics - "Reserve Cutters"

• Cuttering by topical aspect is also sometimes available - this is termed "reserve cuttering"
• Style, Composition, Rhetoric:
• P301 - General Works
• P301.3.A-Z - General Works by region or country
• P301.5.A-Z - Special Aspects A-Z
• P301.5.134 - Idioms
• P301.5.P73 - Propoganda

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

Classification of Resources I: Concepts, Problems, Issues

Two Perspectives on Classification

• Classificationists (i.e. editor) - those who create and edit the conceptual places to put things
• Need to create workable classifications
• What is the basis for a classification?
• What are the ramifications of a classification?
• How hospitable is a classification to changes in knowledge over time?
• Classifiers - those who place things into these created places when organizing
• Need places to put things
• Is there a place for this thing?
• Is this think with other like things?

Classical Classification

• Aristotle and the natural world:
• Mutual exclusivity: "in or out" - something is an animal or it is not an animals
• Inheritance: based on the assumption that there is a natural hierarchy to the world (all animals share same characteristics that differentiate them from plants)
• Basis for scientific classification
• Medieval scholastics and their resources:
• Classification of scholarly materials based on the academic divisions of study of that time - 
• This classification reflected those areas taught to scholars. 
• Classification provides the basis for shelf arrangement.

Scientific (Linnaean) Classification

• Largest example of formal classification:
• Managed over time by classificationists
• Binomial nomenclature (genus/species)
• Specific rules for classifiers to follow (e.g., members of the same species are capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring)
• Follows classical approach:
• Mutual exclusivity of classes
• Inheritance
• EXAMPLES:
• Two species contexts:
• Human classification
• Whale classification
• Dealing with changes in the classification itself:
• Evolution of existing species - e.g. newly emerging drug resistant infectious diseases.
• Newly discovered species - e.g., the division of Monera into two distinct kingdoms

Library Classification

• Inspired by scientific classification:
• Early library classificationists were leaders in the application of classification principles outside of the scientific domain
• However, book classification provided challenges in comparison to the classification of natural objects
• Is a book like a starfish?
• Historically U.S. libraries used classification for shelf arrangement, while European libraries used classification to facilitate retrieval of surrogates:
• Open stacks require a system for shelf arrangement of books
• Closed stacks rely on the catalog to provide logical groupings

The Nature of Book Classification

• Collocating objective: Bringing like things together on library shelves:
• Subject criterion: What about books on multiple topics?
• Author criterion: What about books by multiple authors?
• Subject/author criteria: What about books by the same author on different topics?
• Solving the need for a system of unique identification in open stack libraries through notational systems an call numbers.

Questions in Book Classification

• How do libraries provide for the collocation of like books (2nd Cutter objective) while at the same time facilitating the retrieval of known items (1st Cutter objective)?
• Cutter's solution - two part call number:
• Call number is made up of the class notation (classmark) and the Cutter number
• The classmark provides for the fulfillment of the collocation objective
• The system for Cuttering provides unique call within each library that provides for the known item retrieval objective - helps with unique idenfitifaction.
• A book is not a starfish:
• Books, as physical objects can only be in one place at a time, even if they are about multiple topics
• Libraries do not buy multiple copies
• Conceit of the cataloger revisited
• What about networked resources: Is a website a starfish?
• Comparison of I.S. and European libraries:
• U.S. libraries: open stacks and "mark and park"
• European libraries: closed stacks and classified cataloging (i.e., the assignment of book to multiple classes)
• How many books should be grouped together in the stacks (the efficient browsing problem):
• Broad classification
• Detailed ("close") classification
• How should books within each class be displayed (the subarrangement problem)
• We will compare the needs of the typical research library, with its larger collection of specialized books, with the typical public library, with its smaller collection of broader books.

Four Types of Library Classifications

• Universal: Intended to organize all of knowledge:
• DDC
• LCC
• UDC
• National General: Same as universal, but limited to a specific country:
• Nederlandse Basisclassifatie
• Subject Specific: Intended to organize a domain:
• NLM Classification
• Homegrown: Built as needed (e.g., Yahoo directory)

Classification Concepts

• Broad versus Close Classification
• General strategy employed by individual libraries. 
• How many class numbers to use?
• The larger collection, the closer the classification (i.e., more books require more detailed class numbers)
• Can vary within a library's collections (i.e., a given library may have larger collections in a certain subject area)
• Otherwise, there will be too many books classed together or there will be too few books under each class (each of which impede efficient browsing)
• Classification of Knowledge versus Classification of a Particular Collection
• Relates to the intent of the classification:
• Classification of knowledge approach provides pigeonholes for all subjects in advance of the use of that classification
• Particular collection approach has mechanism to create new pigeonholes as resources are added to collection (literary warrant)
• DDC began as universal, but updates to the classification are now through literary warrant.
• LCC began through literary warrant, but the nature of the LC collection makes the LCC a  de facto universal scheme.
• Notational Integrity Over Time
• Attempting to Maintain the same meaning of a class notation over time:
• Response to the problem of accounting for the growth of knowledge over time
• A challenge for the classificationist
• Classifications can be designed to handle the growth of knowledge
• Fixed versus Relative Location in Closed and Open Stack Libraries
• In terms of efficient storage, what is the most obvious characteristic of an open stack library?
• When storage space is at a premium, use the fixed location approach of closed stacks libraries. 
• Resources can be efficiently stored by size
• The call number is an accession number
• Relative location approach is employed in open stack libraries:
• Physical spaces in collection allow for growth of the collection without a lot of shifting
• Relative addressing is the key
• A library collection is a single, linear sequence of books
• The Case of Journal Shelf Arrangement
• Alphaetic or classified?
• Alphabetic by title:
• Less costly to manage
• What about title changes?
• Problem: Journals on the same subject are scattered across the collection
• Classified by subject:
• Journals arranged by subject
• Title changes are accommodated
• Problem: Users must look up call number to find journal (this is not the case with alphabetical arrangement)
• Faceted Classification (Non-hierarchical)
• Can be part of a comprehensive system, e.g., Colon Classification:
• Can be part of hierarchical system as non-hierarchical specification of the aspects of a subject:
• DDC and LCC have tables for geographic and other facets
• Often used for web organization:

Current Information Environment (2015)

With technology offering limitless amounts of information at your fingertips, information has become a commodity, and with that the deprivation of information a means of control. As mentioned in my Information, Secrecy, and Control post, the government has withheld access to a lot of information. Fortunately, President Clinton tried to change to a nation with government transparency by declassifying many classified documents while in office. Regardless of Bush's attempt to revert this act by reclassifying more than 55,000 documents, and destroying.editing others to represent the government in the way he saw fit, President Obama did away with these orders, and established a National Declassification Center. 

However, the government isn't the only party interested in information control. The privatization of information and information services by corporations only benefits those who own the information. Imagine the privatization of a university, the research data would be owned by the company in control of the university. Only research furthering the cause of the owner would be funded substantially. Overall, the priorities of the corporation funding the university take precedence. 

The ALA has taken a stance  on outsourcing and privatization of information saying:

ALA affirms that publicly funded libraries should remain directly accountable to the publics they serve. Therefore, the American Library Association opposes the shifting of policy making and management oversight of library services from the public to the private for-profit sector.

The library community works with the idea that freedom to information access is an important component of their services. When a company or government with an agenda takes charge, the user may not be able to find the information he/she is looking for, as the information may be classified or even destroyed.

Relevant readings:

• Braman, Sandra. "Forms and Phases of Power: The Bias of the Informational State," Chapter 2 in Change of State: Information, Policy and Power.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009: 9-38.
• Schiller, Dan. "How to Think About Information," Chapter 1 in How to Think About Information. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006: 3-16.
• Schiller, Herbert. “Data Deprivation” Chapter 3 in Information Inequality: The Deepening Social Crisis in America. New York: Routledge, 1996: 43-57.