Mapping Analysis of Pre-coordinated Classes in DDC and CLC

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine how complexities of pre-coordinated classes can influence mapping quality. Though various kinds of mappings among vocabularies have been achieved and applied, there is little research directly pointing out the problems that hinder the mapping quality. This paper focuses on the relationship between the grammatical forms of pre-coordinated classes and semantic mapping quality, in order to provide useful assistance to the setting and mapping of complex concepts in knowledge organization systems. A review of the literature on vocabulary interoperability and an empirical study of pre-coordinated classes in Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and Chinese Library Classification (CLC) are presented. As research objects, the authors have selected two main classes, mathematics and astronomy, in both DDC and CLC. Distributions in the selected classes are described based on the definition and division of pre-coordinated classes. We conclude that the high proportion of pre-coordinated classes in both DDC and CLC greatly increase the difficulty of achieving mapping quality.