Introduction to Library Classification :: 19

Notes

2
INTRODUCTION TO LIBRARY
CLASSIFICATION

INTRODUCTION
In the previous lesson you have studied different types of material in the library.
All the material of a library is for use. But there is no fixed sequence of use of this
material. Any book or other material can be demanded by any user at anytime.
Therefore libraries need a system of arrangement of collection so that it can be
located and used whenever needed. Libraries have evolved system of classification
for arrangement of books and other materials.
In this lesson learner will learn about library classification and different schemes
used for classification purposes in the libraries.

OBJECTIVES

After completing this lesson, learner will be able to:

● discuss classification, and its need and purpose in libraries;
● describe notation, class number, book number and collection number;
● list different library classification schemes; and
● describe the main classes of Dewey Decimal Classification and Colon
Classification.

2.1 INTRODUCTION TO LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION

Classification is a process used by all human beings. We may or may not be aware
of classification or its principles but we use it in our daily life. You may remember

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when you visit a grocery shop; the shopkeeper produces you required item within
no time. Although, he may have hundreds of items kept in the small space he is
able to produce your required item instantly. This is because, he has arranged all
items in a classified sequence. Let us take another example, we have thousands of
items at our home, but we keep them in such a way that all these items are found
Notes within no time. All our clothes are kept at one place, kitchen utensils and foodstuffs
in the kitchen, and all reading material together at different place, and so on. Such
examples are found everywhere in life whether we are aware of it or not. In general
we keep all the things similar in nature, purpose, use, etc. together and those things
which are different from them at different place. Because of this, we have kept
utensils and foodstuffs in the kitchen and soap, toothbrush and toothpaste in the
bathroom.
Thus, in our everyday life we use classification mostly unknowingly by putting
like things together and unlike things separately, which makes our life easy.

2.2 NEED FOR CLASSIFICATION IN LIBRARIES

Like our everyday life, library has thousands or even lakhs of documents, which
include not only books, but journals, magazines, pamphlets, maps ,CDs and many
other documents. If we take an example of only books ,everyone has seen at least
thousands of books in every library. If we do not keep these books in systematic
order, how can we find the user’s required book, when he/she needs it? It is very
difficult, if not impossible, to find one book, in a heap of thousands it is very difficult,
if not impossible, i.e it will take a lot of time to search.

2.3 METHODS OF ARRANGEMENT OF BOOKS IN

LIBRARIES
Different libraries started arranging books in different ways according to their local
requirements. Some kept books of same colour together, but it hardly helped while
searching the required book. Size of the book also did not help much. Although,
very small and very large size books are still kept separately even in modern libraries.
But, this is done purely for administrative reasons as a very small size (called
undersized) book will not be visible in the shelf with normal size books and also it
is very difficult to detect if someone attempts to steal it. The very large size (called
oversized) book cannot be kept at the shelf because shelf size is not very large, so
such books need special provisions. Some libraries started arranging books in the
order of their arrival in the library because, all libraries maintain an accession register
and every book received in the library is entered in it. So every book in a library
has a unique accession number. But although, accession number can arrange all
books of a library in one order, but it is not helpful at the time of searching of the
books. Because, users generally do not demand a book in the order in which it was
received in the library. However, some users ask for latest books and therefore,
libraries keep the latest received books (called new arrivals) on display for some
time at a place where every user entering the library can see them. When new set of
books are received in the library, they replace the earlier books on display. These
in turn are merged with the library collection. The arrangement by author or title

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 Introduction to Library Classification :: 21

was also not very helpful, as only few users remember the name of author or title
of the book. Similarly, some libraries used fixed location and mentioned the same
in the catalogue ,but arranging new books in this method was very difficult.
The experience of libraries all over the world has shown that most of the users
demand books by subject. Some ask by very general subject like history ,political
science, physics, chemistry, psychology, sociology and so on; while others demand Notes
information on specific topics, like date of birth of Swamy Vivekanand, how
television works, name of the president of Sri Lanka, water pollution, alcoholism,
railway accidents, HIV/AIDS, and so on. Some of these subjects are known to all,
as these are taught in schools and colleges, but, others are covered as small topics
in books. The subjects of different books also have wide variations. Some subjects
are broader than others while some are related in some way. Different subjects are
related with each other in different ways. This relationship needs to be represented
in a systematic manner so that books of all subjects can be arranged systematically.
This problem is studied in library classification and solutions are presented in the
form of classification schemes. After learning various methods of arrangement of
books in libraries let us understand the need and purpose of library classification
schemes .After learning various methods of arrangement of books in libraries let
us understand the need and purpose of library classification.

INTEXT QUESTION 2.1

State True/False
1. Arranging the library material by accession number in one order is not helpful
in searching of a book.
2. The experience of libraries all over the world has shown that most of the users
demand books by subject.

2.4 LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION

Every library has thousands of books that need to be arranged according to subjects;
but, subjects of different books are different, so a need was felt to have a scheme
which can arrange all the subjects according to their likeness .The similar subjects
can be placed nearer and subjects only marginally related can be kept thereafter
and such subjects which are not at all related can be kept at different location. Such
a scheme, which arranges subjects of books on the basis of their likeness, is called
a library classification scheme. The library classification schemes help in classifying
a book, or in other words ,help in identifying the exact position of a subject among
thousands of subjects.

2.5 PURPOSE OF LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION

As you know, libraries were facing problems due to large number of books and
started arranging those books in some order. After trying a number of arrangements

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like colour, size, accession number, finally it was found that users mostly ask for
books by subject. Thus, some classification schemes came into existence. So, the
main purpose of library classification is to arrange the books on shelves in a
systematic order, so that whenever a book is needed it can be located immediately.
In general, the library classification has following purposes:
Notes
1) Arrange all the books and other documents of a library in a systematic order
so that library collection looks organised;
2) Bring together all books of same subject so that a user does not have to go to
different places for books of his subject;
3) Keep books of related subjects nearby;
4) Find a particular book of a subject on the shelf as call number (See. Sec 2.8)
distinctly identifies a particular book in the library;
5) Find total books on a given subject in the library as all the books of a subject
have same class number, and therefore, are kept together;
6) Replace the books at their proper place on the shelf after use;
7) Allocate proper place to new books in relation to other books of the library, as
acquisition of new books is a regular work in all libraries and these books are
to be merged with existing library collection;
8) Assist the cataloguer in finding subject headings for library catalogue
particularly when classified catalogue is used and subject entries are to be
prepared ; and
9) Help in compilation of subject bibliographies.
There may be some other purposes for which library classification can be used.
One can use library classification for arrangement of museum objects or Internet
resources. It can also be used for maintenance of circulation statistics of the library
and organization of reference queries.

INTEXT QUESTION 2.2

Fill in blanks
1. The main purpose of library classification is to _________ the books in a
______________
2. The library classification schemes help in ———————— a book, or in
other words, help in identifying the exact position of a ———————among
thousands of subjects.

2.6 NOTATION
Every classification scheme arranges different subjects in order of their likeness

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 Introduction to Library Classification :: 23

and then assigns an artificial number or letter to represent that subject. The different
artificial numbers or letters used to represent subjects in a classification scheme
are collectively known as notation. Different classification schemes use different
notation. Dewey Decimal classification (DDC) uses only Indo-Arabic numerals (0
to9) for representing different subjects while Colon Classification (CC) 7th edition
uses74 different symbols (26 Roman Capital letters; 23 Roman small letters
Notes
excluding i, l, and o; 1 Greek letter Ä; 10 Indo-Arabic numerals; and 14 other signs
used for connecting these symbols) as notation. The total number of symbols used
as notation by a classification scheme is called its notational base. Some of the
subjects and notations used for their representation in DDC and CC are shown
below:
Table-1: Notation used in DDC and CC
Subject Notation
DDC CC
Library Science 020 2
Mathematics 510 B
Physics 530 C
Chemistry 540 E
Social Sciences 300 Ó
The above Table-1 shows that all the symbols used in DDC for different subjects
are only numerals while in CC these symbols include numerals ,Roman capital
letters and Greek letters. A specific symbol used for a particular class in a scheme
like ‘2 for Library Science’ in CC is called its class number. The concept of class
number is explained below.

2.7 CALL NUMBER

Call number is the number that distinctly identifies a book in a library. As you know
our parents have given a particular name to us, and we are known by that name.
Whenever someone wants to talk to us that name is used to call our attention. So in
social context, our name is our call number.
There are thousands or even more books in a library. Call number is used to identify
one particular book in that collection. It also helps in finding the relative location
of that book in the whole collection. Thus, if you know the general sequence of
arrangement of books in a library, the call number of a book will guide you to the
area and to the exact place where the book is kept.
The call number has three parts: class number, book number and collection number.

INTEXT QUESTION 2.3

Select the correct answer.

1. (a) Call number is a combination of class number and book number.

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(b) Call number is combination of class number, Book number, and collection
number.
(c) Call number is a combination of class number and collection number.

Notes 2.7.1 Class number

Class number of a book represents its subject. As you know, classification scheme
organizes all the subjects in a systematic order and uses an artificial scheme of
numbers, alphabets and symbols called notation, for each subject.
The notation used for a particular subject in a classification scheme is called its
class number. In the example at Table-1, the class number of Library Science is 2
and the class number of Mathematics is B. All the classification schemes use notation
to represent different subjects; but, they use different class numbers for different
subjects.
Thus, the class number of Library Science in CC is 2 whereas in DDC it is020.
Similarly, the class number of Mathematics in CC and DDC is B and510
respectively.
When we classify a book, that is, assign a particular class number to a book, we
translate its specific subject in the notation of that scheme. If a book is on Chemistry,
we will look into the classification scheme, find Chemistry and the notation used
for chemistry there, and then mark that number as class number in the book. For
example, if your library is using DDC scheme for classification, you will see that
540 is used for Chemistry in that scheme, so you will assign class number 540 to
that book.
Thus, we can say that every book has some subject and the notation used forthat
subject in a particular classification scheme is the class number of that book.
At the time of classifying a document, class number is written in pencil at theupper
half portion of verso (back) of the title page.

2.7.2 Book number

In the previous section you have understood class number which is assigned to
different books on the basis of their subject. Books of different subjects will have
different class numbers. But in a library there may be many books on one subject
and all these books will have the same class number. Like in a school or college
library if two textbooks of a subject are acquired in large number say 20 each; then
all these 40 books will have the same class number. We need some method to
distinguish all the books having same class number so that these books can be
arranged in some order and finds its unique place on shelf.
We need some method to distinguish all the books having same class number so
that these books can be arranged in some order. Books of the same class can be
arranged according to book number. According to Dr. S R Ranganathan “the book
number of a book is a symbol used to fix its position relatively to the other books
having the same ultimate class”. So, different books of same subject will have same
class number but different book number.

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 Introduction to Library Classification :: 25

Methods of assigning book numbers

There are many methods of assigning book numbers. But the following methods
are used by many libraries:
a) Author surname three letter system
b) Cutter-Sanborn three figure author table Notes

c) Biscoe system of year of publication

d) Colon book number system
Author’s surname method: It is the most simple method of assigning booknumbers.
In this method, we use first three digits of author’s surname as book number. In
case the author’s surname is not letters given, the book number can be constructed
from the forename. Eg.
Author’s name Book number
SR Ranganathan RAN
MM Kashyap KAS
Krishan Kumar KRI
Sometimes, some standard author table may be used for author number like Cutter-
Sanborn three figure author table. But generally some modification of three letter
author number like addition of first letter of title of the book in the book number
may also be used.
Colon Book Number System
Dr. SR Ranganathan has given an elaborate scheme of book number consisting of
following fields:
Formula of book number: [L][F][Y][A].[V]-[S];[C]:[Cr] Where
L = Language of the book
F = Form in which the book is written e.g. index, list, picture, graph.
Y = Year of publication of the book
A = Accession part of the book number. It is given when more than one books
of same subject published in the same year are acquired in the library
V = Volume number is given when a multivolume book is acquired in the
library
S = Supplement number is given when a supplement is published for a volume
C = Copy number particularly useful for school and college libraries where
multiple copies of textbooks are acquired
Cr = Criticism number is used when a book based on some other book is
acquired in the library.

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It is not always necessary to use all these fields. Language number is not used for
the books which are published in the language in which most of the library books
are published. Generally year of publication is sufficient. But this scheme ensures
that every book of same class in a library has a different book number. Thus, a book
published in 2010 in the form of Parody in Bengali language will have the book
Notes number 157jP10
The book number is generally written below the class number on the spine of the
book or on the back of the title page. However, in the main entry of classified
catalogue it is written after the class number leaving two character spaces. On the
back of title page class number and book number may be written as following:
330 954 510
SHA RAN SEN

INTEXT QUESTION 2.4

Select the correct option

1. Book number of book on library science published in 1990 by Girija Kumar
would be as per Author’ surname method.

(a) KUM (b) GIR (c) GIR 1990

2. Which of the following is not a part of Book No.?

(a) Year of Publication (b) Author’s Name (c) Class No

2.7.3 Collection number

Libraries generally do not have a single sequence of books. Reference books are
separated from other books in most of the libraries. In school and college libraries
text books are kept separately. In university libraries there may be separate
departmental libraries besides separate reference collection. These departmental
libraries are located in the department and not in the main library.

Some books are very small to be kept on the shelves some other books are too large
in size to be kept with other books. The above mentioned situations lead to more
than one sequence of books(called collection) in the library. Thus, a book may be
in any of the collections in the library and it is necessary to mention the collection
where that book is.

The indication of the collection is made by some symbols called collection number.
Although, a library may devise its own collection number scheme which may help
in indicating the collection, Dr. Ranganathan’s scheme as given below may be
adopted.

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 Introduction to Library Classification :: 27

Collection Collection number

Undersized Underline Book Number
Oversized Overline Book Number
Abnormal Underline and Overline Book Number
Wornout Encircle Book Number Notes

Reading Room RR
Periodicals PC
Physics Department CD
Library Science Department 2D
Except where collection number is to be marked on book number, it is to be written
above the class number.

2.8 SCHEMES OF LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION

In order to provide service to users, libraries of nineteenth century, started arranging
their books according to subjects. But as the collection grew, it became difficult to
arrange it with the help of simple ordering of subjects. They needed an elaborate
scheme of classification. Many librarians designed such schemes specially suited
to their libraries. The first scheme, that can be used by any library was designed by
Melvil Dewey in 1876, which is now known as Dewey Decimal Classification
(DDC). The latest, 23rd edition of DDC, has been published in 2011. Another major
classification scheme Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), which was based
on DDC, is very popular in Europe and in special libraries. The father of library
science in India, Dr. S.R. Ranganathan, designed Colon Classification in 1933. This
scheme is still very popular in Indian libraries. Now we will briefly study some
important library classification schemes.

2.8.1 Dewey Decimal Classification

As stated earlier, DDC is the first general library classification scheme. It was
designed by Melvil Dewey in 1876. The first edition of DDC had only44 pages
including a 12 page schedule or scheme of subjects. Dewey used Indo-Arabic
numerals (i.e. numbers from 0 to 9) as notation for the scheme .It is the most popular
scheme in the world. Since its first edition which was published in 1876, DDC has
been regularly revised to keep it up to date. The23rd edition of DDC has been
published in May 2011. Its electronic version WebDewey 2.0 has also been released
simultaneously.
Every class number in DDC consists of three digits (numbers). For an aid to Eye
after third digit, a dot is inserted and then fourth, fifth and more digits are written.
In the beginning of schedule three summaries of class numbers are given. First
summary gives 10 main classes, second summary gives 100 divisions where each
main class is divided into 10 branches and third summary gives 1000sections where
each division is further divided into 10 branches. The first summary of DDC 22nd
edition is reproduced here below:

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000 Computer science, Information & general works

100 Philosophy & psychology
200 Religion
Notes 300 Social sciences
400 Language
500 Science
600 Technology
700 Arts & recreation
800 Literature
900 History & geography
In the second summary each main class is further divided into 10 branches called
divisions. The 10 divisions of main class 000 are given below:
000 Computer science, Knowledge & Systems
010 Bibliographies
020 Library & Information Sciences
030 Encyclopedias & books of facts
040 [Unassigned]
050 Magazines, journals & serials
060 Associations, organizations & museums
070 News media, journalism & publishing
080 Quotations
090 Manuscripts & rare books
In the third summary each division is further divided into 10 sections. The sections
of 020 Library & Information Sciences are given below:
020 Library & Information Sciences
021 Library relationships
022 Administration of physical plant
023 Personnel management
024 [Unassigned]
025 Library operations
026 Libraries for specific subjects

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 Introduction to Library Classification :: 29

027 General libraries

028 Reading and use of other information media
029 [Unassigned]
Further branches of each section are given in the schedules. In addition to numbers
given in the schedules, six tables can also be used for number building. These tables Notes
are given below:
Table-1: Standard Subdivisions
Table-2: Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Persons
Table-3: Subdivisions for the Arts, for Individual Literatures, for Specific
Literary Forms
Table-3 A: Subdivisions for Works by or about Individual Authors
Table-3 B: Subdivisions for Works by or about More than One Author
Table-3 C: Notation to be Added Where Instructed in Table3B, 700.4,791.4,
808-809
Table-4: Subdivisions of Individual Languages and Language Families
Table-5: Ethnic and National Groups
Table-6: Languages
DDC 21st Edition also had a Table-7 Group of Persons which has been removed in
DDC 22nd Edition.

2.8.2 Colon Classification

CC was designed by the father of library science in India, Dr. SR Ranganathan, in
1933. Dr. Ranganathan was a teacher of Mathematics before coming to Library
Science. After joining Library Science he got so much interested in it that he started
thinking towards a new classification scheme. He was very disappointed with the
classification schemes available at that time and soon he designed a different type
of classification scheme known as Colon Classification. CC is a faceted scheme,
that is, it does not have schedules of classes or subjects as in other schemes, but
each Main Class has one or more schedules of facets that can be added to the Main
Class number. The universe of the knowledge is divided into some subjects which
are known as Main Classes.
During the life time of Dr. Ranganathan, six editions of CC were published, but
after his death his work could not get the attention it deserved. The seventh edition
of CC was published in 1987 without index, so it could not be used by libraries.
The libraries which are still using CC are either using its sixth edition or
incorporating the revisions, which were brought out in 1963.

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The scheme of Main Classes given in CC 6th revised edition is reproduced here:
z Generalia LX Pharmacognosy
1 Universe of Knowledge M Useful Arts
2 Library Science Ä Spiritual Experience and Mysticism
Notes
3 Book Science MZ Humanities and Social Sciences
4 Journalism MZA Humanities
A Natural Sciences N Fine Arts
AZ Mathematical Sciences NX Literature and Language
B Mathematics O Literature
BZ Physical Sciences P Linguistics
C Physics Q Religion
D Engineering R Philosophy
E Chemistry S Psychology
F Technology Ó Social Sciences
G Biology T Education
H Geology U Geography
HX Mining V History
I Botany W Political Science
J Agriculture X Economics
K Zoology Y Sociology
KX Animal Husbandry YX Social Work
L Medicine Z Law

2.8.3 Other Classification Schemes

2.8.3.1 Library of Congress Classification (1901)
The Library of Congress (LC) Classification scheme, as its name shows, was
designed for the Library of Congress of USA. The scheme serves the requirements
of the world’s largest library LC and is updated regularly. Although, it is only a
practical scheme without much theoretical base, but is quite popular particularly
in libraries of USA because of easy availability of class numbers for most of the
books. There is some influence of Cutter’s Expansive Classification on main outline
of classes of LC Classification.

2.8.3.2 Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) (1905)

UDC is the only classification scheme which was not designed for classification of
books. It was designed for arranging the entries of universal bibliography at
International Institute of Bibliography (Brussels). Two Belgians Paul Otlet and Henri
La Fontaine revised the DDC (5th edition) to such an extent that this new scheme

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 Introduction to Library Classification :: 31

UDC was born. So UDC has a base of DDC or we can say that broadly the main
classes and their divisions are similar in both the schemes. But, UDC has many
more features for building a class number than DDC. Due to these features it is
quite popular among special libraries all over the world.
There are some other classification schemes which are now mainly of historical
importance. CA Cutter designed Expansive Classification (1891)in seven separate Notes
classifications of increasing details. First very broad, second more detailed and so
on. James Duff Brown’s Subject Classification (1906)was different in the way that
it brought together all the material related to a particular topic, instead of using
discipline oriented approach used by other schemes. Henry Evelyn Bliss’s
Bibliographic Classification (1935) is theoretically significant because it attempted
to find an order of main classes that was based on scientific, and educational
consensus. International Federation for Documentation (FID) published Broad
System of Ordering(BSO) in 1978 for dealing with blocks of information. It was
not meant forbook classification.

Activities 2.1

1. Pick up any 5 books from your library classify them using CC and DDC.
2. Take out 5 books from same class numbers and from different collection and
note down book number by publication year and Author surname methods.

INTEXT QUESTION 2.5

State True/ False

1. Dewey Decimal Classification number uses notation comprising Indo Arabic
numerals only.
2. Colon classification does not have schedules of classes or subject.

WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNT

1. Libraries have thousands of books which need to be arranged in some order,

because whenever a user demands a book, it should be located instantly.
2. Classification is a natural process. We classify, knowingly or unknowingly,
whenever we have many items. This is a general necessity to bring order into
things.
3. Initially different libraries attempted different techniques for arranging
books.They used colour, size, author, title, accession number and subject; and
finally reached the conclusion that as most of the time users demand books by
subject ,the library collection should be arranged by subject.

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4. But subject arrangement is not very easy to follow. Subjects have different scope
and relations: one subject is a branch of the other subject or a totally new subject
comes into existence which does not have any place among traditional subjects.
5. Every one of us cannot decide where to put a new subject; so different
Notes classification schemes were designed by experts that looked into all these
problems.
6. DDC was the first such scheme and it is still the most popular one, among
different classification schemes.
7. UDC which was initially based on DDC has many additional features that make
it the choice of special libraries.
8. During last more than a century a number of other schemes were designed by
experts, but except some special schemes designed for particular libraries, most
of these are mainly of historical importance.

TERMINAL EXERCISE

1. What is the need for library classification? Also describe its purposes.
2. What is the role of call number? Describe its parts and their functions.
3. What is notation? Describe the notation used in CC.
4. Compare the main classes of DDC and CC.

ANSWERS TO INTEXT QUESTIONS

2.1

1. True
2. True
2.2

1. Arrange, Systematic order

2. Classifying, Subject
2.3

1. (b)
2.4

1. (b)
2. (c)

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 Introduction to Library Classification :: 33

2.5

1. (a) True
(b) True

TERMS Notes

The terms covered in this lesson which require further explanation are typed below
in an alphabetic order. The learners are required to explain each term.
Book Number:
Call Number:
Class Number:
Classification Scheme:
Collection Number:
Notation:

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