Introduction

Library and information services have developed and used several special tools, techniques and standards for organizing information resources on shelves in order to keep related items together, and, by analogy, to keep unrelated items apart. The main objective of this activity, called classification, is to facilitate easy location of, and thus access to, information resources in libraries. Modern day classification schemes – tools used for classification of bibliographic information resources – date back to the late 19th century, 1876 to be precise, when Melvil Dewey developed a systematic scheme of library classification that eventually became one of the most widely used tools for organizing library materials. Since then a number of library classification schemes have been developed to aid the process of organizing library materials in a systematic manner.

The main objective of this chapter is to provide an introduction to the concept and process of library classification. It begins with a brief introduction to the concept of library classification, and it then provides a brief overview of some major bibliographic classification systems. Space does not permit a comparison of the various library classification schemes, or a detailed discussion of the features of each. Nevertheless, after reading this chapter, readers should have an understanding of the basic concept of bibliographic classification and the principles of various bibliographic classification schemes.

Organizing information: classification

The process of organization of items takes place in all walks of life, consciously or unconsciously. Sometimes we organize items mentally and thus distinguish one item from another; in other cases we use some sort of formal method or approach that has been previously laid down and agreed upon. The process of organizing things in a systematic order is known as classification; it is a process by which our mind identifies an item and at the same time distinguishes it from others (Chowdhury and Chowdhury, 2007). Hunter (2002, 2) comments: ‘wherever one looks, examples of the use of classification can be found’.

For classification we use those characteristics of objects that are specifically useful for their identification (as well as distinction from one another) by the intended users. In the process of classification of objects we repeatedly apply the characteristics of the objects concerned, and thus form smaller and smaller groups at each stage.