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Unit 5: Universal Decimal Classification (UDC)

Various possible relations between subjects were identified, and symbols were assigned to Notes
represent them. They also realized that characteristics common to many subjects could be
assembled as a separate list. Repeated patterns of digits where the same characteristic of division
was applied already existed in decimal classification, but now a step ahead was taken that
involved detaching the terminal digits and listing them as tables of auxiliary numbers, which
could be added as required by the user. This synthetic principle meant that it was possible to
obtain a level of detail much greater than what was actually displayed in the published scheme
- higher precision combined with economy of presentation. At the same time, Otlet and La
Fontaine were expanding the purely enumerative content, to provide for the extensive
requirements of the Repertory, and the result was a scheme both more copious and more
sophisticated than its predecessor. It contained about 33 000 subdivisions. It was published by
the IIB, in French, from 1904 to 1907, and was called the Manuel du Répertoire Bibliographique
Universel (‘Handbook to the Universal Bibliographic Repertory’). It was in fact the first edition
of UDC.
The scheme continued to expand, though interrupted by the First World War, and work
progressed on a second edition, in which editorship was shared with Frits Donker Duyvis of the
Dutch Patent Office, who was responsible for the extensive revision and expansion of the science
and technology sections. It was published from 1927 to 1933, and by now had over 70,000
subdivisions. The Universal Bibliographic Repertory, the impetus for the scheme, was proving
unmanageable, and this edition was now offered independently under the title Classification
Décimale Universelle, the name by which (in various translations) it is still known. This edition
became the master version of UDC, and remained so until 1993, when a new database became
the authoritative source. From 1933 to 1993 the second French edition, as modified and augmented
by approved amendments collected in various supplements and later in the serial Extensions
and Corrections to the UDC, was the official source for all UDC editions. A third edition, the first
in German, was next begun, under the editorship of Carl Walther, and published from 1934 to
1951; this was roughly double the size of the second, about 140,000 subdivisions.

Interest in UDC in the United Kingdom was particularly promoted by the enthusiasm of Dr S C
Bradford (1878-1948), who was keeper of the Science Museum Library from 1925 to 1937, and
responsible for its adoption of UDC in 1928. The Classification for works on pure and applied
science in the Science Museum Library, third edition (but the first to use UDC) was published in
1936, and was the first completed (though selective) edition of UDC in English. It was in fact an
abridged edition (about 6000 subdivisions) with emphasis on science and technology. Work was
also under way on a translation of the still authoritative second (French) edition, and this was to
be the beginnings of a fourth full edition of UDC, the first in English. Parts of this were published
in 1936-39, jointly by the British Society for International Bibliography and the Association of
Special Libraries and Information Bureaux (BSIB and ASLIB later united to form Aslib, the
Society for Information Management). At their request, BSI assumed responsibility for publishing
UDC, and, after issuing slightly corrected versions of the existing parts in 1943, continued to
produce English editions in the BS 1000 series.
The Institute International de Bibliographie (IIB), after various name changes and relocation to
the Hague, became the International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID) and
remained the maintenance agency for UDC until 1991. In that year, acting on the recommendations
of the specially formed Task Force for UDC System Development, it held talks with several
UDC publishers about restructuring the finance, management and maintenance of the scheme to
ensure its future into the 21st century. As a result of these talks, the UDC Consortium (UDCC)
was formed, with FID, BSI and four other publishers as founder members.
The UDCC assumed ownership of the scheme on 1 January 1992. Its first priority was the
creation of a database of 60,000 entries, known as the Master Reference File (MRF), which was
completed in the spring of 1993 and is now the authoritative statement of the content of UDC.

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