WEEK ONE

Introduction to knowledge classification

Classification or knowledge Classification is the process of arranging, grouping, coding,

and organizing books and other library materials on shelves or entries of a catalog, bibliography,

and index according to their subject in a systematic, logical, and helpful order by way of assigning

them call numbers using a library classification system, so that users can find them as quickly and

easily as possible.

Use of classification enables library users to browse on shelves to find its materials,

determines the place of a book and the shelf, and also collocates additional items on the same or

related subjects. Classification also enables the library users to find out what documents the library

has on a certain subject. The cataloger assigns a classification, or call number, in correlation with

the subject headings.

In addition, a classification notation is chosen from whatever classification scheme is used by the

library. In the United States, the most likely candidates are the Library of Congress Classification

(often referred to as LCC) or the Dewey decimal classification (known as DDC).

Traditionally in the U.S., the classification serves as a means for bringing a resource into close

proximity with other resources on the same or related subjects. In the case of tangible resources,

the classification is the first element of the call number, which is a device used to identify and

locate a particular resource on the shelves.

 CONCEPTS/TERMS USED IN CLASSIFICATION OF

KNOWLEDGE/DOCUMENTS

Basics concepts of library classification systems are enumerated under the following

headings:

Universe and Entity Group

Class Attributes

A class is a group of concepts that have at least one thing in common. This shared property

gives the class its identity.

Classifications may be designed for various purposes.

They include:

1. Scientific classification

2. Classification for retrieval

Scientific classifications arrange the phenomena of the natural world as an aid to

systematics study. They include the arrangements in systematic botany and zoology, and the table

of chemical elements, and they often form the basis of field guides.

Classification for retrieval –helps in locating the things you need. It includes

documentary classifications – that is: an aid to the management of documents, in order to make

information locatable. The distinctions are not watertight, and a documentary classification may

incorporate scientific ones, as UDC does to some extent in Chemistry, Botany and Zoology. A

document is an information carrier. Anything that is a source of information, not necessarily verbal

(it could be an image or an object).

 Classes may consist of various kinds of concept, such as physical things (objects, persons,

places etc.) and their parts, activities, processes, abstract ideas.

Forex ample.

1. Buildings (schools, churches, houses, etc.) – thin

2. Parts of buildings (doors, walls, stairways, etc.) – parts

3. Building services (joinery, glazing, plumbing, etc.) – activities

4. Architectural styles (classical, Georgian, etc.) - abstract ideas

A class may be further divided into smaller classes (or subclasses), and so on, until no

further subdivision is feasible. So classification is likely to be hierarchic, with each level of

division (except the lowest) divided into its logical subsets.

Characteristics Kinds of Library Classification Disciplines

Basics subjects

Categories, Facets and Isolates

Facets: A particular aspect or feature of something.

Hierarchy: A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as

being “above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another
 The Colon Classification system, like enumerative classification systems, divides the

universe of knowledge into a number of main classes, such as agriculture, philosophy, and

literature. Dewey Decimal Classification,(DDC) for example, has ten main classes, labelled zero

through nine.

The Colon Classification system has 42 main classes, labelled with one or two letters of

the alphabet. A few are labelled with number or Greek letters. But Colon Classification, rather

than simply dividing the main classes into a series of subordinate classes, as most systems do,

subdivides each main class by particular characteristics into facets. The facets, which are labelled

in the Colon Classification system by Arabic numbers, are then combined to make subordinate

classes as needed. For example, literature may be divided by the characteristic “language” into the

facet of language, including English, German, and French. It may also be divided by “form”which

yields the facet of form, including poetry, drama, and fiction. Colon Classification contains both

basic subjects and their facets, which contain isolates. A basic subject can stand alone, for

example, “literature” in the subject “English literature”. An isolate,in contrast, is a term that

mediates a basic subject, such as the term “English.” To create a class number, the basic subject

is named first. The isolates follow, entered according to a facet formula. This formula states that

every isolate in every facet is a manifestation of one of five fundamental categories, personality,

matter, energy, space, and time.

Personality is the distinguishing characteristic of a subject.

Matter is the physical material of which a subject may be composed.

Energy is any action that occurs with respect to the subject.

Space is the geographic component of the location of a subject.

 In addition, time is the period associated with a subject.

EXAMPLE

The basic subject “handicrafts” of the topic “19th century woven wool Peruvian clothing

handicrafts” would have the isolate from the personality facet “clothing”; from the matter

facet,“wool”; from the energy facet, “woven”; from the space facet, “Peru”; and from the time

facet,“19th century”. Some topics have fewer than five fundamental categories. Some have more

than one facet in a given fundamental category.

Isolates are always arranged in order of decreasing concreteness, based on the fundamental

categories. Personality is considered the most concrete and time the least concrete.

Arrays and Chains

Schedules for Classification

Species of classification for subjects

Subject

(i) Can be a matter or topic that forms the basis of a conversation, train of thought,

investigation etc.

(ii) A branch of knowledge as a course of study.

(iii) A branch of learning.

(iv) A branch of knowledge studied or taught in a school, college or university.

 (v) An organized body of ideas, whose extension and intension are likely to fall coherently

within the field of interests and comfortably within the intellectual competence and the

field of inevitable specialization of a normal person’.

(vi) A subject is an organized and systematized body of ideas. It may consist of one idea or a

combination of several.

A subject comprises a segment or segments of the universe of knowledge. A subject can

be composed of a single segment like physics or any division or subdivision of it; double segments

like science and technology, multiple segments like physical sciences, and so on.

Canonical Primary Basic Subject

The primary set of primary basic subjects included in a scheme for library classification

are formed by the division of the, universe of subjects by fission. These basic subjects are

postulated by the classificationist. Therefore, the resulting divisions have been called traditional

or canonical primary basic subjects. Fission: Mode of formation of the first set of primary basic

subjects is by fission. Fission is the process of division, or splitting, or breaking up into parts. It is

an internal process of division without the interference of any outside agency. Example: Colon

classification 1 (1933) enumerated the following set of primary basic subjects:

Generalia

A Science (General) B Mathematics C Physics

D Engineering E Chemistry F Technology

G Biology H Geology I Botany

 J Agriculture K Zoology L Medicine

M Useful arts N Fine arts O Literature

P Linguistics Q Religion R Philosophy

S Psychology T Education U Geography

V History W Political science X Economics

Notation

Notation: Notation is an artificial indexing language. UDC uses Arabic numerals as

annotation and arranged the numbers in decimal fractions. For example in the UDC database the

8 digit number 61425384 becomes 614.253.84 (medical confidentiality), which is more

manageable. Symbols used for UDC notation are non-language dependent and consist of Arabic

numerals, a few familiar mathematical symbols, and common marks of punctuation. According to

Lois Mai Chan et al.: “There has been a renewed interest in using subject categorization of

hierarchical structures to organize directories for more efficient knowledge discovery and retrieval

A system of figures or symbols used in a specialized field to represent numbers, quantities,

tones, or values. Notation should be pure or mixed, faceted or non-faceted.

Purpose of a Natation system

Melvil Dewey, self-proclaimed library reformer, made numerous contributions to modern

librarianship. Foremost among those contributions is the knowledge organization system that bears

his name, the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system. While the original system “was

devised for cataloguing and indexing purposes,

 it was found to be equally valuable for numbering and arranging books and pamphlets on

the shelves”. Evidence of the in genuity of the DDC notational system is found in its use as a tool

for both physical access (as a system of shelf arrangement) and intellectual access (as a

classification system).Entries in the library’s catalogue gave the size of each book, as well as a

number, apparently for the section in which it would be found. This information could be used to

direct the searcher to the correct alcove and then to the correct shelf or shelves (books of like size

being shelved together to reduce space requirements). Then, “unless there was some further

undocumented system, like arrangement by author’s name, it was then necessary to scan all books

of the right size.