Page 84 - DLIS002_KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGUING THEORY

Unit 4: Colon Classification and Dewey Decimal Classification

4.7.9 Difficulties: Long Numbers and Topic Relocations Notes

Among the difficulties built into the DDC system are its long numbers, which increase rather
than diminish as the system grows, nullifying some of the mnemonic character of the basic
system? Thus the number 636.08969897, which was cited on page XXX as coming from the
relative index entry for radiation injury in veterinary medicine, is so long that any mnemonic
associations between it and the number 616.9897 (from which it was built) are obscured. Librarians
who wish to retain these long numbers because of extensive holdings in one or more fields
should write them on items to be shelved in several lines. The above number could be written
in short segments as follows:

636
.089
698
97
Related to the long number difficulties are the rapid, often sweeping, topical relocations from
one edition to another. Such drastic surgery is forced upon the system by its limited notational
base and the swift growth and change in the world of knowledge and of publication. An article
by Pat Thomas written soon after publication of DDC20, gives pointers on adjusting to DDC’s
expansions, reductions, relocations, and revised schedules. While the big rush, particularly in
academic libraries, to change from DDC to LCC seems to have run its course, no library can
afford to ignore all efforts to keep shelf arrangement contemporary with the shifts in knowledge
as reflected in the literature.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:

16. Arabic numerals are used to represent each class in the DDC.
17. The DDC schedules enumerate only a fraction of the possible numbers that can be used to
represent concepts.

18. An atomic DDC notation is a string that is syntactically decomposable into DNA atoms.

Case Study Relevance of a Classified Catalogue in the FRBR
Perspective

‘Information processing and retrieval’ being the core of librarianship, warrants adequate
coverage at all levels of education in Library and Information Science (LIS). Library schools
therefore used to include detailed study of the tools and techniques of information
processing and retrieval, including classification, cataloguing, indexing, information system
design etc. in the syllabi of the various courses in LIS. In fact library classification and
cataloguing together accounted for almost half of the syllabi during the early days of
library education. Subsequent developments, especially the application of Information
Communication Technology (ICT) in information retrieval and the changes in the
requirements and expectations of the clientele whom the profession has to serve, led to a
paradigm shift in the discipline and made it necessary to incorporate more components
Contd....

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