http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1770 21st Allerton Park Institute (1975); Edited by Kathryn Luther Henderson http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1785 Dewey Decimal Classification, Universal Decimal Classification, and the Broad System of Ordering: The Evolution of Universal Ordering Systems Wellisch, Hans H. O f the three systems named in the title of this paper, the first is familiar to everyone, even outside the profession of librarianship; the second is much less well known; and the last one is probably still a total stranger. Actually, to say that the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) is little known in the United States is an understatement. Except for a handful of people who actually use the system, the general notion among many librarians in this country seems to be that the UDC is a quaint, even outlandish system, a transmogrification of Dewey performed by some oddballs in the city of Brussels. American textbooks on classification still call it the "Brussels Extension." Such ignorance and neglect is even more deplorable as the UDC is essentially of genuine American descent, being the offspring of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC).When we celebrate the Dewey centennial, we can at the same time look back on exactly eighty years of UDC. It was in 1895 that two Belgian lawyers, Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine, decided to adapt the DDC for their plan of the Institut International de Bibliographic (IIB) as a classification system for the worldwide repertory of all knowledge recorded not only in books, but also in articles, reports, and any other kind of documents. Classification, Dewey decimal Classification http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1784 The Library of Congress Classification Scheme and its Relationship to Dewey Stevenson, Gordon It strikes me as an interesting circumstance that I have been given the opportunity to speak about the relationship between the Library of Congress classification (LCC) and the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) on November 11, a day which I will always think of as Armistice Day. There is no armistice for the respective advocates of these two great classification systems; or, if there is an armistice, there should not be one. The long-range implications of the issues surrounding the Dewey/LC debate are too crucial to pretend that differences of opinion over the merits of the two systems are trivial. LCC and DDC are very, very different. They are so different, and they are different in such ways, as to raise the most basic questions about the very purpose of general library classification, its structure, its uses, and its future in the United States. In a very real sense, these are competing systems. Decisions are made, human resources are allocated, and money is invested in one system or the other. This competition was neither asked for nor wanted by the Library of Congress nor the publishers of the Dewey system. But it does exist and has been a rather expensive proposition over the past ten to twenty years, if not longer. Classification, Dewey decimal Classification http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1783 The Role of Classification in Subject Retrieval in the Future Rolland-Thomas, Paule It always seems befitting that the last speaker at a conference should gaze at a crystal ball and predict the future of the subject that has been discussed; I feel I should quote Confucius by saying that I do not invent, but transmit. In the last ten years, since the Elsinore Conference on Classification Research, classification theory and practice have produced a large body of literature and contributed to meetings such as this one. Major futuristic works, especially Classification in the 1970's, which was published early in this decade, provide the reader with a clear insight of what the future holds for each topic covered. J. Mills states of Bliss's Bibliographic Classification that "as a library classification scheme per se, the prospect is clear and bright," but "from the point of view of its future use, the prospect is less predictable." Bibliographic Classification (BC) is being revised because some ninety libraries use it and need a revised edition. Presently, no BC class numbers are provided from centralized cataloging services such as British National Bibliography, MARC tapes, etc. However, Mills asserts that if demand warrants it: "This might involve the development of a 'switching language' whereby the subject analysis and description implicit in the production of PRECIS index entries . . . could be translated quickly and economically into BC numbers." Classification, Dewey decimal Classification http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1782 Summary of a Survey of the Use of the Dewey Decimal Classification in the United States and Canada Michael, Mary Ellen ithin the last ten years, three studies have been performed dealing with the use of Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) outside the North American continent. To date, there has not been a similar survey aimed at assessing the situation in the United States and Canada. In response to this need, Forest Press, publisher of the DDC schedules, has sponsored a survey to measure the use of the DDC by libraries and processing centers in these two countries. This paper highlights some of the findings of this survey. The full report has been published by Forest Press.^ There were four major objectives of the survey: (l)to determine the extent of use of the DDC by U.S. and Canadian libraries of different sizes and types, (2) to obtain information about the application of the DDC to library collections, (3) to determine the problem areas in the application of the DDC for collections in these two countries, and (4) to ascertain to what extent the DDC is taught in library schools and what problems are encountered in teaching it. Classification, Dewey decimal Classification http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1781 Factors in the Selection of a Classification Scheme for a Large General Library Lewis, Peter This paper concerns the British Library; by now it is well known that the British Library consists of more than one large library. One of its components, the British Museum Library, is among the largest in the world; two others, the Science Reference Library in London, and the Lending Division in Yorkshire, both have collections sizable enough to raise problems regarding classification. In fact, however, the Lending Division has long since rejected classification as an operational tool in any other than peripheral uses, and is not a component which enters into the considerations I am making today. In addition to these, there is the Bibliographical Services Division, which is evolving from the formerly separate entity, the British National Bibliography (BNB). This division is the most significant user of classification at the present time. Not only is the British National Bibliography primarily dependent on classification for its arrangement and articulation, but the classification data supplied by BNB is a substantial element of the centralized cataloging service which it gives to all kinds of libraries in Great Britain. One of the functions of the Bibliographical Services Division is to extend this service to cover the needs of in-house bibliographic processing within the British Library itself. Classification, Dewey decimal Classification http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1780 Introduction Henderson, Kathryn Luther Not the least of the important events in library history occuring in 1876 was the appearance of a (then) anonymous publication entitled: A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloging and Arranging the Books and Pamphlets of a Library. We now know that the author was Melvil Dewey and, through the years, the work has become known as the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). The twenty-first annual Allerton Park Institute of the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library Science honored this modest beginning of modern library classification on the eve of its centennial. Forest Press (Albany, N.Y.), publisher of the DDC, served as cosponsor of the conference held from Sunday, November 9, through Wednesday, November 12, 1975, at Allerton Park (the university's conference center) near Monticello, Illinois. From the first conversations concerning the conference, the intention was that the conference concentrate on classification in general and that it should be critical and objective, and not simply expository and laudatory with regard to DDC. Since Dewey's classification scheme has had a major impact on library classification and subject retrieval systems throughout the world, it was felt that the conference should include papers and discussions from leading experts in the field from the United States, Canada, and England. While the focus remained on Dewey, past, present and future, other major systems were to be noted and compared with DDC. Classification, Dewey decimal Classification http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1779 Dewey Today: The British and European Scene Downing, Joel C. At a point halfway through this institute and at the commencement of the second evening session, I am appalled at the problem of making my contribution intellectually stimulating as well as entertaining. I cannot regard my paper as something other than a watershed. Earlier ones have stressed the history of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and its place in the North American scene, while I have been invited to survey somewhat wider horizons (with apologies to the North American continent) in the shape of British use and influence, with what I trust will be a suitable appendix on the European scene. My own direct involvement with DDC is relatively recent, although I have a professional relationship which goes back to the twelfth edition. As assistant editor of the British National Bibliography (BNB), 1 became relatively close with Dewey, although again only in an indirect sense as I was particularly responsible for cataloging rather than classification. I became more involved with DDC when, as Secretary of the Cataloguing and Indexing Group of the (British) Library Association, I was asked in 1968 by the Research Committee of the association to assist in the reconstitution of its Decimal Classification Revision Subcommittee. Such a subcommittee had existed in earlier years, and already had some contact with the editor of DDC and the Forest Press. It would be impolitic of me to examine publicly the reasons for the lack of growth in those earlier relations. What should be emphasized here, I think, is the tremendous degree of good faith that has been established between DDC and British librarianship since then. Classification, Dewey decimal Classification http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1778 The Historical Development of The Dewey Decimal Classification System Comaromi, John P. Melvil Dewey was born on December 10, 1851 on the tenth day of the tenth month.* To this fact I attribute the reason why Dewey conceived his idea of using Arabic numerals decimally to mark the subjects of books. I call this, happily, the "birthday theory." At this early hour you may not embrace this theory. Perhaps you will find more to your liking the "digital-clock-on-the-bar theory." Parched by a long prayer meeting, Dewey repaired to a local tavern to restore his depleted spirits. While staring over his beer at the digital clock on the bar, he conceived his decimal plan. Fortunately, he had stared at the clock after one o'clock, but before ten, and when the hour did not change. This theory has two known flaws: Dewey did not drink, and digital clocks were not then found on bars or anywhere. I sense your reluctance to embrace this theory as well. Nevertheless, there are only two or three views regarding Dewey's conception that are better than the "birthday theory" or the "digital-clock-on-the-bar theory." None has been proposed that is worse, however, so I withdraw both. Classification, Dewey decimal Classification http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1777 Dewey Today: An Analysis of Recent Editions Cockshutt, Margaret E. Despite the title of this paper, I do not intend to make a detailed analysis of the subject content of recent editions of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). Instead, I shall concentrate on certain classificatory changes within the system, and try to show how these changes seem to spring in part from changes in the editorial development of editions 16-18 of DDC, and in the administrative and editorial frameworks within which the editions appear. In my own research on classification systems, I have become increasingly fascinated by the ways in which the classification systems themselves are determined, shaped and changed by the people who devise and revise them. As has been said many times, the first fourteen editions followed in a largely unbroken line, with some relocations, but basically with expansions. Then came the abortive fifteenth edition. That this edition was recognized as a disaster became obvious with the appearance of the revised fifteenth edition in the following year. This was followed by the contractual arrangement between the Lake Placid Club Education Foundation (LPCEF) and the Library of Congress (LC) that LC should be responsible for the editorial work on future editions, for the length of the contracts. On January 4, 1954, LC began the editorial work, with David Haykin as editor. Benjamin Custer succeeded him as editor in 1956. Classification, Dewey decimal Classification http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1776 Library Classification: One Hundred Years After Dewey Batty, David For one hundred years in claim and counterclaim we have developed what have seemed at times to be highly diverse and divergent lines of thought in the theory of library classification. However, I believe not only that these different developments have contributed to our present philosophy and model of classification, but also that their differences were more apparent than real we have often been bewitched by the appearance into paying insufficient attention to the creature beneath. In a very real sense, the most sophisticated modern theory is less a new structure founded on the work of a century ago than it is simply a validation and realization of that work. In order to describe what we have now I must review how we came to have it, since the study of classification is often a matter of hindsight, of determining the principles that are the key to good organization in existing classification schemes. For this reason, I shall propose a theoretical model that seems to lie at the heart of all fruitful classification and indexing developments of the last one hundred years. I shall also refer to several episodes in the history of classification and indexing, and draw from those episodes the elements of greatest significance to point out an overall pattern, even though these elements may have seemed of great significance neither to their authors nor to their audiences. Classification, Dewey decimal Classification