Page 38 - DLIS405_INFORMATION_STORAGE_AND_RETRIEVAL

Unit 3: Organization in Classification Research

Knowledge Organization (Journal) Notes

Founded in 1973, Knowledge Organization (sometimes abbreviated as KO) is the official
quarterly double-blind peer-reviewed academic journal of ISKO. It was formerly known as
International Classification until 1993, when the title changed to its current form. Pub-
lished in English, the Society describes the journal’s scope this way:
In each issue, experts from many countries comment on questions of the adequate structuring and
construction of ordering systems and on the problems of their use in providing access to the
information contents of new literature, of data collections and survey, of tabular works and of other
objects of scientific interest. Contributions: (1) clarify theoretical foundations (general ordering theory,
philosophical foundations of knowledge and its artifacts, theoretical bases of classification, data
analysis and reduction); (2) describe practical operations associated with indexing and classification,
as well as applications of classification systems and thesauri, manual and machine indexing;
(3) trace the history of knowledge organization; (4) discuss questions of education and training in
classification; and (5) problems of terminology in general and with respect to special fields.

Find and list some international and national knowledge organizations.

Self Assessment

Multiple Choice Questions:
5. The society publishes the quarterly academic journal knowledge organization, and it holds
an international conference every:
(a) one year (b) two years
(c) three years (d) four years
6. Knowledge organization was formerly known as international classification until:
(a) 1963 (b) 1973
(c) 1983 (d) 1993

3.3 Classification Research Group

• It can reasonably be said that Brian Vickery was responsible for the creation of the CRG
• It finds its origins in the Royal Society Conference on Scientific Information of 1948, which
Vickery attended
• Concern for the management of scientific information, its dissemination and retrieval, was one
of the major themes of the conference
• This led to the setting up of a ‘classification committee’ under the leadership of Bernal
• After an unproductive period Bernal invited Vickery and Wells to convene a specialist group.

Constitution of the CRG:

• the group was composed of librarians and information scientists – some of the leading names
of that and the subsequent period
• there was a mix of academics, researchers, and practitioners
• figures such as Austin, Coates, Farradane, Fairthorne, Foskett, Kyle, Langridge, Mills, Palmer,
and Wells, as well as Vickery, contributed to its work.

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