Page 85 - DLIS002_KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGUING THEORY

Knowledge Organization: Classification and Cataloguing Theory

Notes
borrowed from other subject fields in the syllabi. However the general practice in LIS
schools is to have curricula with emphasis on the basic philosophy and theory of information
processing and retrieval rather than just training the students in ICT enabled information
retrieval skills. Such an approach is essential for the development of discipline retaining
its identity.
Momentous changes have taken place in the scheme of education for librarianship all over
the world during the past few years. In India for example, many of the library schools
have now switched over to two-year integrated (4 semester) Master of Library and
Information Science (M L I Sc) programme, with a basic degree in any discipline under the
10+2+3 scheme as the minimum qualification for admission. The former one-year courses
of B L I Sc and M L I Sc are also being continued in some schools. In addition, there is the
certificate course in library and information science, with either matriculation or a pass in
higher secondary course as minimum requirement for admission, offered in universities,
government institutes and autonomous institutions. These courses aim at moulding
manpower competent to work in the various libraries and information centres and to
perform a range of jobs, from routine semi-professional operations to managing national
level integrated information systems. As the Curriculum Development Committee of the
University Grants Commission (2001) observes, about 90% of the libraries in the country
function on traditional lines, with print-based collection managed with card catalogue,
card-based circulation system and other traditional devices, and with limited access to
electronic resources. At the same time there are a good number of state-of-the-art libraries
and information units that provide access to a host of digital resources within their campus
as well as from outside. Therefore the professionals coming out of the library schools
must be competent for both the categories of libraries. Hence the curricula of the various
courses are framed in such a way that a balanced coverage of traditional tools and techniques
as well as modern ICT-based devices is maintained. This paper is concerned with the facet
of library cataloguing, the core of LIS which has to reflect the latest trends.
The library schools in India have been training students in compiling both Classified
Catalogue and Dictionary Catalogue using the Classified Catalogue Code (CCC) and the
AACR2 respectively. This practice has led to the conviction even among a large majority
of the professionals that no Classified Catalogue can be constructed applying the rules of
AACR2. Some library schools today have done away with the practice of a Classified
Catalogue on the ground that rules in CCC have lost their relevance in the context of
computerized catalogues. But the theoretical foundation of cataloguing that Ranganathan
has formulated still holds good in an automated catalogue as well. A great impact of the
scientific basis that Ranganathan has laid down can be seen in the FRBR model itself and
the amendments made from time to time in the rules for choice and rendering of access
points in the various revisions of AACR2. It therefore becomes inevitable to perpetuate
the Normative Principles so that the tools and techniques that we develop would have a
sound theoretical foundation, which can further be improved applying the scientific
method.
The ISBDs have today been accepted as the universal standard for describing documents of
all types in bibliographical databases and therefore the corresponding rules in the CCC
which were framed for a hand written card catalogue have lost their relevance. But the
philosophical and theoretical bases of the CCC and the rules relating to headings have no
parallels in the AACR2 or in other catalogue codes. Had the CCC been revised during the
1970s replacing rules for description with the ISBDs and updating the other rules properly
it would have been a great boon to modern cataloguing. This author is of strong view that
library schools have to train the students to compile a Classified Catalogue using the ISBD

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