Page 67 - DLIS002_KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGUING THEORY

Knowledge Organization: Classification and Cataloguing Theory

Notes

Notes There are also facets that are common to all the classes. These are called common
isolates. Examples include form and language. The same facet can be used more than once.
Notations, such as numbers and letters, are used to represent the facets, while punctuation
marks are used to indicate the nature and type of the facets. The classifier’s job, therefore, is to
combine the available terms that are appropriate in describing the information package in
hand.

Example: So, for example, consider a book or report about ‘Circulation of periodicals in
University Libraries in India up to the 1970s’. Using Colon Classification, this book/report
would have this Class Number:

234; 46: 6.44’N7
This Class Number breaks down like this:
2 = Basic Class number 2, indicates the Basic Class Library Science.
34 = Personality. (Notice the lack of comma, as mentioned above.) In the Library Science
Basic Class, Personality indicates types of libraries. 34 is the number for university
libraries. In fact, 3 indicates any type of academic library, and 34 is a narrower term,
so an additional digit is added to it. 33 indicate college libraries, 42 indicate industrial
libraries, 48 indicate government department libraries, etc.
;46 = The semi-colon indicates a Matter value. In the realm of Library Science, Matter
indicates the type of materials involved. 46 correspond to periodicals.
:6 = The colon indicates an Energy value. In the realm of Library Science, Energy facets
describe common actions such as cataloguing (55), circulation (6), reference service
(7), book selection (81). Please note that numbers in Colon Classification are in
decimal order (not whole number order), so these four examples are listed in correct
ascending order.
.44 = The period indicates a Space value. 44 is assigned to India. The scheme includes the
number 1 to indicate World, as well as numbers to indicate specific states/provinces
in some countries, such as 7376 for the state of Illinois.
‘N7 = The apostrophe indicates a Time value. The initial letter indicates a century (N=1900-
1999), while the 7 indicates a decade. (Ranganathan was thinking far ahead. In his
original schedules published in 1933, he had a table of values that went up to Z,
which stands for the years 3000-3099 A.D.)

The five facets always are placed in this order. In some cases libraries have become
accustomed to omitting some of the punctuation because it is “self-evident” that a new
facet has begun. However I found this extremely confusing for someone who is new to the
scheme.

4.1.3 About the Five Facets

Many cataloguers and theorists have struggled with the distinction between Personality, Matter,
Energy, Space and Time.
Space and Time are the easiest of the five to understand. However, it is important to note that
these are meant to be facets of some other concept—when they are the main focus of a work in
themselves, then they are considered to be Personality elements of the work’s Class Number.

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