CLASSIFICATION IN THE MILLENNIUM

Abstract

Classifying classification. ‘Classification’ is a concept that means many different things to many different people. In the world of bibliographic information systems it usually signifies one of the well known universal schemes such as the Dewey Decimal, Library of Congress and Universal Decimal classifications. It also calls up visions of arrangements of books on shelves and/or the ordering of bibliographic entries in files. However, classification is much more than this. Its principles underlie the organisation of the universe and control our ability to function within it. Virtually all types of entities can be classified, be they documents, jobs, museum objects, contents of Web sites, the contents of supermarkets and so on. For the most part, people make use of classification without recognising it or questioning how it comes about. However, the lack of classification in any area affects people's lives and may hinder their ability to satisfy some need or to achieve some goal. Those who must organise these entities are usually fully aware of the need to categorise or classify, whereas uninitiated users may locate and identify an unorganised mass of information and will complain or demand order only at the point at which they recognise that they have a problem in satisfying their needs.