Decimal Classification Research Articles

Educational supplementary bibliographic relationships from FRBR point of view: A Canadian Case Study

PurposeOne of the aims of library catalogs is to clearly represent the relationships existing between two or more bibliographic entities, enabling users to make sense of these relationships. Educational bibliographic relationships are the relationships between an educational work, such as a textbook, and its related works. The main interest of this study was to understand the nature of the supplementary work-to-work bibliographic relationships among educational works and the constitution of educational bibliographic families in the Canadian context using AMICUS (the Canadian national catalog). A thorough understanding of educational bibliographic relationships is required for understanding the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) supplementary relationships. Design/methodology/approachWe studied the extent and size of educational bibliographic relationships in the bibliographic universe found in the AMICUS catalog. This is an empirical investigation into the nature and extent of educational work-to-work bibliographic relationships by examining title of works, notes and added entries in bibliographic records. The study was carried out between September 1st 2010 and December 22nd 2010 and examines educational bibliographic relationships between Canadian 2009 publications in each class of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). In other words, this study poses two main questions: What is the structure of educational supplementary bibliographic relationships in Canadian publications? Do significant differences exist across the ten DDC classes? FindingsResults show that 595 works of the 2009 bibliographic records in the AMICUS catalog contain an educational supplementary bibliographic relationship. Of the Canadian publications with an educational supplementary work-to-work bibliographic relationship that were studied, the rates of educational bibliographic relationships were relatively high in the fields of Science (27%), Technology (22%), Social Sciences (20%), and Language (19%). The results of this study suggest a set of guidelines for the establishment and maintenance of educational bibliographic relationships. Originality/valueThis is the first research to examine the educational bibliographic relationships, as supplementary relationships.

Roles of the Librarian in a Research Library in the Digital Era: Challenges and the Way Forward

This article describes the roles of librarians in a research library, particularly in the digital era. Librarians' roles vary from the custodian of resources to providers of a diverse nature of activities ranging from collection development, organization of knowledge, information services, preservation and conservation, and management. Librarians perform the aforementioned functions traditionally by using printed tools ranging from collection development tools (e.g., publishers' catalogues, books in print, Ulrich, bibliography); cataloguing tools (e.g., classification schemes such as Library of Congress Classification [LCC] and Dewey Decimal Classification [DDC]); information services (e.g., bulletin, notice board, flyers); preservation and conservation (e.g., clean shelves, use of acid free boxes); and so forth. The traditional ways of performing these functions is being eroded by modern technology. This calls for changes in the products and services of research libraries to the research community served. These changes and the roles that librarians play are discussed in this article. Also enumerated are the challenges, such as dwindling budgets, capacity building, inadequate facilities, among others, of optimizing innovative ways of achieving more enhanced services. Some suggestions that could move the profession forward are also proffered.

PROFESORĖS VANDOS STONIENĖS ASMENINĖ BIBLIOTEKA

Professor Vanda Stonienė (1932–2008) was not only a scientist of Vilnius University, but also she had a deep interest in books at home. She gathered a personal scientific library which was used in her work. The library contains 379 pieces. The professor`s personal library mainly includes periodicals and books, but also other materials such as personal artefacts are found in the collection. Another, family-type, shared library exists at home of V. Stonienė, but for her it was only an additional source of information used to enrich and complement her knowledge.An analysis and interpretation of all the pieces of her personal library are presented in this article. All the material was clasified according to the lingual, thematical, quantative, and chronological principles. The classification met the requirements of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC). The overview of the personal library of V. Stonienė made it possible to better understand her personality, principles of work and life.

Facet analysis: The logical approach to knowledge organization

The facet-analytic paradigm is probably the most distinct approach to knowledge organization within Library and Information Science, and in many ways it has dominated what has be termed “modern classification theory”. It was mainly developed by S.R. Ranganathan and the British Classification Research Group, but it is mostly based on principles of logical division developed more than two millennia ago. Colon Classification (CC) and Bliss 2 (BC2) are among the most important systems developed on this theoretical basis, but it has also influenced the development of other systems, such as the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and is also applied in many websites. It still has a strong position in the field and it is the most explicit and “pure” theoretical approach to knowledge organization (KO) (but it is not by implication necessarily also the most important one). The strength of this approach is its logical principles and the way it provides structures in knowledge organization systems (KOS). The main weaknesses are (1) its lack of empirical basis and (2) its speculative ordering of knowledge without basis in the development or influence of theories and socio-historical studies. It seems to be based on the problematic assumption that relations between concepts are a priori and not established by the development of models, theories and laws.

Why Build Dewey Numbers? The Remediation of the Dewey Decimal Classification System

Correct Dewey classification is demanding and time consuming. Many of the challenges with the Dewey system are related to locating and interpreting notes (i.e. classification guidelines), and number building.Today’s Dewey structure is a result of more than 100 years of optimizing a comprehensive classification system to the printed book medium. In order to limit the system into a “manageable” size, facets and facet-like subjects are represented only once and instead referred to from relevant classes for number building. A similar technique is used to reduce the number of notes.With the remediation of Dewey from printed to computer media, space is not limited and there is no need to compress the classification system. Number building can be eliminated, and all relevant notes attached to each class. Despite the fact that the system now has been available in electronic form for almost 20 years, it is still largely a copy of the printed version.This article first investigates how the Dewey system may be presented for users without number building, in order to make it more immediate and user-friendly. We first analyze the Dewey structure, and then look at different representations of the structure suited for computer media. Finally, some ideas for a new presentation without number building are proposed.

Managing Hardcopy Drawings

This Paper Presents a Classification System for Managing and Indexing Hardcopy Engineering Drawings, Referred to, in this Paper, as Drawings Library Management System (DLMS), Developed for an Appropriate Technology Research Centre in Botswana. the System Is Akin to Common Library Cataloguing and Classification Systems such as the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), Universal Decimal Classification and Others, which, though Are Well-Known and Have Been around for many Years, Are yet to Be Exploited for the Classification and Management of Paper Drawings. in Fact, Hardcopy Drawings Appear to Be Neglected Compared to the Softcopy Type, for which Various Scholarly Articles Have Been Done on their Classification, Retrieval and Management. this Is Unfortunate as, Invariably, it Is Hardcopy/paper Drawings that Are Mostly Used in Production, Especially in Developing Countries where the Power of CAD/CAM Is yet to Be Fully Harnessed. Accordingly, the DLMS, a Model Successfully Used in a Research Centre in Botswana for over Ten Years Is Proposed.The System Was Further Analysed against and Compared to Three Main Library Classification Systems, Namely, the Dewey Decimal, the Universal Decimal and the Library of Congress Systems. Results Show that the DLMS Is a Better Classification System for Managing Hardcopy Drawings.

듀이십진분류법의 지역 보조표에서 한국 지역 구분의 수정 전개 방안에 관한 연구

본 연구는 십진분류법인 DDC, UDC, KDC, NDC의 지역구분 보조표의 구조와 그 안에서 한국 지리 구분 전개에 관해 비교 분석하고 각각의 분류표 안에서 지역구분 보조표의 번호와 분류항목명을 기술하고 그 특징을 논하였으며 서로 다른 십진식 분류표에서 지역 구분과 관련하여 공통적인 사항과 차별화되는 사항을 조사하였다. 또한 위키 백과와 한국의 행정 구역 분류도 조사하여 십진식 분류법과 다르게 한국을 구분하는 기준을 살펴보았다. 이러한 분석을 바탕으로 한국에 관한 지역구분의 전개가 가장 적게 이루어진 DDC를 중심으로 좀 더 상세한 전개 방안을 기본 원칙과 임의조항과 함께 제시하였으며 향후 십진분류법 개정에 있어서 참고가 되도록 하였다.

초등학교도서관 축제의 활성화 방안 - 서울지역을 중심으로 -

본 연구에서는 서울지역 교육복지투자우선지원학교에서 실시하고 있는 학교도서관 축제를 조사 분석하였다. 즉 학교도서관 축제에 참여하고 있는 도서관 담당자, 학생들을 대상으로 설문 및 면담조사를 실시하여 축제의 다양한 특성을 분석하였다. 구체적인 분석내용은 다음과 같이 요약될 수 있다. 즉 조사 대상 학교도서관 축제 프로그램의 주요특성 및 내용, 십진분류기호의 축제에 대한 영향, 축제와 도서관심도의 변화, 학교도서관 축제에 대한 도서관 담당자 및 학생의 만족도, 학교도서관 축제에 대한 문제점 조사 등을 포함한다. 조사결과를 토대로 학교도서관 축제 활성화를 위한 주요 제언점을 제시하였다. This study surveyed and analyzed school library festival that is being carried out in elementary schools of Seoul region. In doing so, it carried out questionnaire and interview survey targeting people in charge of library and students who are participating in the school library festival. The findings can be summarized with such components as follows. Major characteristics of the programs of the school library festival, the impact of Decimal Classification on the festival, change of participants' interest in book, the satisfaction of library staff and students are included. Based on the findings, major suggestions were made on activation of the school library festival.

The Availability of Access Features in Children's Non-Fiction

This study analyzes the availability of access features in children's non-fiction as compared to their prevalence in adult non-fiction because such features are an important part of the research process increasingly demanded of younger and younger students in schools. Access features studied include: table of contents, index, bibliography, endnotes/footnotes, glossary, and suggestions for further reading list. This study found that children's non-fiction books were less likely to include bibliographies or endnotes, but more likely to include glossaries or suggested reading lists. Tables of contents and indexes were the two most popular access features in each section. Results are divided by Dewey Decimal Classification classes.

Library Classification Systems and Organization of Islamic Knowledge

Standard library classification systems like Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), U.S. Library of Congress Classification (LCC), and Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) are internationally known and widely used by libraries as the tools for organizing information. Charles Ammi Cutter’s Expansive Classification (EC), James Duff Brown’s Subject Classification (SC), Henry E. Bliss’ Bibliographic Classification (BC), and S. R. Ranganathan’s Colon Classification (CC) also are standard classification systems, but they are less commonly used compared to aforementioned three systems. All these systems are easy to use and convenient for most general collection libraries. However, these systems are not adequate for some special collections. Libraries with rich collections on Islam also face problems while using these systems, although such libraries often use expansions in the original systems for their collections. This paper examines this problem and presents a potential optimal solution. The author collected data, using a semistructured interview technique, from a representative sample of thirty libraries in eight countries with strong collections in Islam. These data were analyzed employing qualitative methods.

The strange case of eugenics: A subject's ontogeny in a long‐lived classification scheme and the question of collocative integrity

This article introduces the problem of collocative integrity present in long‐lived classification schemes that undergo several changes. A case study of the subject “eugenics” in the Dewey Decimal Classification is presented to illustrate this phenomenon. Eugenics is strange because of the kinds of changes it undergoes. The article closes with a discussion of subject ontogeny as the name for this phenomenon and describes implications for information searching and browsing.

El uso de los sistemas tradicionales de organización del conocimiento en las bibliotecas peruanas

Se describe y analiza el uso de los sistemas tradicionales de organización del conocimiento, como por ejemplo, los sistemas de clasificación decimal Dewey (SCDD) y de la Library of Congress (LC), las listas de encabezamientos de materia (LEMB) y los tesauros; en las unidades de información peruanas. Asimismo, se identifican los tesauros elaborados en el Perú desde la década de los años 70 del siglo pasado a la fecha.

KDC 조기표를 이용한 국내서의 패싯 내비게이션 기능 개선 방안

본 연구에서는 조기표를 활용하여 차세대 도서관 목록(NGC)에서 강조하는 검색 결과의 패싯 내비게이션 기능을 개선하고자 하였다. 조기표는 자료의 형식적인 측면이나 내용 측면을 체계적으로 나타내므로, 기존의 NGC에서 제공하고 있는 주요 패싯인 언어나 발행년도, 주제(대구분)와 같이 효과적인 패싯이 될 수 있다. 이에 한국십진분류법(KDC)을 적용한 서지레코드의 분류기호를 분석하여, 본표와 조기표의 합성 현황과 특징을 도출하였다. 그리고 이를 바탕으로 본표에 합성된 조기성 기호가 패싯 내비게이션 기능 강화에 활용될 수 있음을 제안하였다. 이 방안은 분류기호를 부여하기 위해 기존에 이루어져 왔던 주제 분석 과정의 산물을 재사용할 수 있다는 추가적인 이점도 가지고 있다. The purpose of this study is to improve the faceted navigation function of next-generation library catalogs(NGC) using the tables in a classification scheme. Because the tables provide forms or contents of materials systematically, faceted navigation based on the tables can be as effective as faceted navigation based on language, publishing date, or class-level subject facet. Therefore, class numbers based on the Korean Decimal Classification (KDC) were examined and the characteristics of schedules and tables were analyzed. As a result, suggestions to improve faceted navigation was provided. Moreover, the method using the tables does not need additional resources to derive facets because the facet analysis process is always carried out in the classification process.

Email Reference Transactions Reveal Unique Patterns about End-User Information Seeking Behaviour and Librarians’ Responses in Academic and Public Libraries Outside the U.S. and Canada

Email Reference Transactions Reveal Unique Patterns about End-User Information Seeking Behaviour and Librarians’ Responses in Academic and Public Libraries Outside the U.S. and Canada

The World of Tomorrow: Geographic Coverages of the Main Street Public Library, ALA Catalogs, and H. W. Wilson Company’s Standard Catalog for Public Libraries

This article details what one high school senior from each of the five Main Street public library communities (Sauk Centre, Minnesota; Osage, Iowa; Rhinelander, Wisconsin; Morris, Illinois; and Lexington, Michigan) would find in collections in 1945 related to particular geographies. The global milieu of the New York World’s Fair 1939–40 frames the historical events that stimulated each of the student’s topics. To determine what each public library’s collection held about the world, the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) section of geography and travel (classification number 910) was used. Cross-referencing each library’s accession records for books added prior to 1945 against books recommended for all public libraries in the geography and travel (910) sections of standard professional guides like the ALA catalogs , the H. W. Wilson Company’s Standard Catalog for Public Libraries , and other ALA publications like the Guide to Reference Books shows what students using these five libraries would have found. The recommended titles from the professional guides and those accessioned in the libraries indicate a distinct bias toward books concerning North America and Western Europe.

Towards Finer Granularity in Metadata

In early 2010, the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ ICLTT instituted an experiment in selective metadata creation for a medium-sized collection (<100 million tokens) of digitised periodicals. The project has two main objectives: (a) assigning basic structures to previously digitised texts, so-called divisions in TEI nomenclature, thus creating a set of new digital objects, and (b) the subsequent categorisation of these texts with the purpose of being able to create thematically organised sub-corpora. An additional objective was to have metadata stored as TEI headers. Attempts at streamlining metadata creation are legion, in particular in the library community. Tools to do the job are often incorporated into workflow engines which consist of commercial products (such as docWORKS[e] and C-3) as well as free products such as Goobi, which incorporates the metadata creation tool RusDML, and the Archivists’ Toolkit™. The experimental workflow being tested at the ICLTT is an attempt to capture detailed metadata for a comparatively large collection of digitised periodicals and other collective publications such as yearbooks, readers, commemorative publications, almanacs, and anthologies. While all higher-level digital objects in the corpus were furnished with metadata from the beginning of the digitisation process, the current experiment is designed to enrich this data to more fully describe the contents of the material at hand. To achieve this end, the department’s standard tools were adapted, which had the added benefit of keeping software production costs at a minimum. While in earlier experiments of our group of researchers (metadata creators) created the TEI header for each text division manually, we have been trying to approach the problem by exploiting the contents section of the digitised issues and/or other secondary sources, which has resulted in a tangible acceleration of the process. Together with collecting basic data such as author, title, publication date, and creation date, the project classifies each division with a type of texts and topics, the latter using the standard Dewey Decimal Classification (version 22, German) with supplementary keywords. This paper discusses a number of issues concerning the quality and type of resulting data. It also touches upon the issue of automation and at what points in the process human intervention is indispensible. Particular attention is directed at the software module for creating TEI headers.

Need to Categorize: A Comparative Look at the Categories of Universal Decimal Classification System and Wikipedia

This study analyzes the differences between the category structure of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) system (which is one of the widely used library classification systems in Europe) and Wikipedia. In particular, the authors compare the emerging structure of category-links to the structure of classes in the UDC. The authors scrutinize the question of how knowledge maps of the same domain differ when they are created socially (i.e. Wikipedia) as opposed to when they are created formally (UDC) using classification theory. As a case study, we focus on the category of “Arts”.

Metadata About What? Distinguishing Between Ontic, Epistemic, and Documental Dimensions in Knowledge Organization

Claudio Gnoli has been working as an academic librarian since 1994. His main interest is classification theory. He has published papers on this subject in several international journals and conference pro- ceedings. He is a member of the scientific advisory boards of the Universal Decimal Classification Con- sortium (UDCC) and of the journal Knowledge Organization, and vice-president of the International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO). Gnoli, Claudio. Metadata About What? Distinguishing Between Ontic, Epistemic, and Documental Dimensions in Knowledge Organization. Knowledge Organization. 39(4), 268-275. 37 references. ABSTRACT: The spread of many new media and formats is changing the scenario faced by knowledge organizers: as printed monographs are not the only standard form of knowledge carrier anymore, the traditional kind of knowl- edge organization (KO) systems based on academic disciplines is put into question. A sounder foundation can be provided by an analysis of the different dimensions concurring to form the content of any knowledge item—what Brian Vickery described as the steps from the world to the classifier. The ultimate referents of documents are the phenomena of the real world, that can be ordered by ontology, the study of what exists. Phenomena coexist in subjects with the perspectives by which they are considered, pertaining to epistemology, and with the formal features of knowledge carriers, adding a further, pragmatic layer. All these di- mensions can be accounted for in metadata, but are often done so in mixed ways, making indexes less rigorous and interoperable. For example, while facet analysis was originally developed for subject indexing, many faceted interfaces today mix subject fac- ets with form facets, and schemes presented as ontologies for the semantic Web also code for non-semantic information. In bibliographic classifications, phenomena are often confused with the disciplines dealing with them, the latter being assumed to be the most useful starting point, for users will have either one or another perspective. A general citation order of dimensions— phenomena, perspective, carrier—is recommended, helping to concentrate most relevant information at the beginning of head- ings.

Developing and Maintaining a National Classification System, Experience from Korean Decimal Classification

Korean Decimal Classification (KDC) is described. KDC is a standard classification system officially published and maintained by the Korean Library Association. After tracing a brief history of modern classification in South Korea, we examine various characteristics and problems of KDC in detail, including the social context of developing it, its usage in the Korean libraries, the influences of other classifications on the system, characteristics of the schedule and major tables, and its newest edition (5 th ed.). We make eight suggestions and recommendations for future development of KDC, in particular, and for the development and maintenance of unique national classification, in general, based on experience in South Korea.

The Library of Congress, Dewey Decimal, and Universal Decimal Classification Systems are Incomplete and Unsystematic

Objective – To determine the extent to which knowledge is currently addressed by the Library of Congress (LCC), Dewey Decimal (DDC), and Universal Decimal (UDC) classification systems.&#x0D; &#x0D; Design – Comparative analysis of the LCC, DDC, and UDC systems using Zin’s 10 Pillars of Knowledge.&#x0D; &#x0D; Setting – The Faculty of Philosophy and Science at a Brazilian university.&#x0D; &#x0D; Subjects – Forty one subject-related classes and 386 subclasses from the first two levels of the LCC, DDC, and UDC systems. &#x0D; Methods – To evaluate the LCC, DDC, and UDC systems, the researchers employed the 10 Pillars of Knowledge, a “hierarchical knowledge tree” developed by the lead author of this study (p. 878). According to the authors, the 10 Pillars of Knowledge seek to illustrate relationships between fields of knowledge while capturing their breadth. The first level of the Pillars consists of the following categories: Knowledge, Supernatural, Matter and Energy, Space and Earth, Nonhuman Organizations, Body and Mind, Society, Thought and Art, Technology, and History. Each of the 10 Pillars is further subdivided, resulting in a four level hierarchical structure of 76 categories. Of the 76 categories, 55 are unique subject areas. A selection of subject-based classes and subclasses from the first two levels of the LCC, DDC, and UDC systems were then mapped to the relevant subclasses within the Pillars. Analysis was limited to the first two levels of LCC, DDC, and UDC, except for the LCC categories of BF and BL where further subclasses were analyzed. Classes or subclasses in LCC, DDC, or UDC that were not subject based (for example, those based on publication type) were excluded from the study. In total, 41 main classes and 386 subclasses from LLC, DDC, and UDC were categorized using the 10 Pillars.&#x0D; &#x0D; Main Results – The LLC, DDC, and UDC systems were deemed to be complete and systematic in their coverage of only three of the 10 Pillars: Matter and Energy, Thought and Art, and History. This means that there was at least one class or subclass in each of the three systems that corresponded to the subclasses in these pillars. The remaining seven pillars were only partially covered by the three systems to varying degrees. For example, the coverage of religion in LCC and DDC show evidence of a bias towards Christianity and incomplete coverage of other faiths. In addition to the lack of completeness in terms of subject coverage, the researchers found inconsistencies and problems with how relationships between subjects were illustrated by the systems. For example, botany should be a subclass of biology, but the subjects occupy the same level in the LCC, DDC, and UDC systems. Researchers also noted cases where subclasses on the same level were not mutually exclusive e.g., the BR (Christianity) and BS (The Bible) subclasses in LCC. Overall, LLC performed slightly better than DDC or UDC, covering 47 of the 55 unique subject categories in the 10 Pillars. It was followed by UDC with 44 out of 55, and DDC with 43 out of 55. Some of the 55 unique subject categories in the 10 Pillars system were not represented by any of the systems: 3 subclasses under Society (Society at Large – Area Based, Social Groups – Age, and Social Groups – Ethnicity), 2 under Technology (Technologies – Materials and Technologies – Processes), and 1 under Foundations (Methodology).&#x0D; &#x0D; Conclusion – The researchers conclude that none of the three major classification systems analyzed provides complete and systematic coverage of the world of knowledge, and call for the library community to move to new systems, such as the 10 Pillars of Knowledge.