Page 12 - DLIS002_KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGUING THEORY

Unit 1: Concept of Library Classification

2. A classification system developed and used at the Library of Congress since 1887. Notes
3. Classifications for retrieval arrange the phenomena of the natural world as an aid to
systematic study.

1.2 Need and Purpose of Library Classification

Various types of documents hardly need any emphasis-Libraries as service institutions acquire
documents for use. These acquisitions should systematically be arranged so as to meet the ever
growing needs of readers precisely, exhaustively and expeditiously. If documents are arranged
in library on the basis of factors other than subject matter, the arrangement will not be helpful
in meeting the requirements of the majority of readers who usually approach a library for
subject material. In other words, documents should be classified and arranged on the basis of
their subject content.

We are witness to the information revolution. Documents are published in various languages in
various disciplines in diverse forms. Libraries have always been acquiring books and adding
them to their collections. Therefore, the collection of an active library continues to grow year
after year. Ranganathan compares active and effective libraries with growing organisms. In an
unclassified library, when the collection grows steadily into thousands and lakhs of volumes, it
would be difficult for the library staff to lay hands on a particular document required by a
reader. To meet the subject approach of readers the collection must necessarily be classified by
subject.

In libraries where the collection is arranged by accession number, or author or title, and not by
subject, books on the same subject will be scattered throughout the collection. Even if the books
are arranged alphabetically – by subject, the resultant sequence will not be helpful, as unrelated
material will come together. See the following example:

Example:
Adult education
Agriculture
Algebra

Alloys
American history
Anthropology
Applied mechanics

Arithmetic
Astronomy
Atomic energy
Australian history
This type of sequence of subjects surely is far less useful and will fail to meet the requirements
of readers. Alphabetical sequence leads to alphabetical scattering of logically related subjects;
as shown in the above example. It is through systematic arrangement that a filiatory sequence or
collection of closely related subjects can be achieved. For this we require a scheme of library
classification. Here is an example of arranging documents on the basis of Dewey Decimal

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