Self‐perpetuating Scheme of Classification

Abstract

WHEN Miss Ditmas sent me a copy of the proceedings of the conference convened by the Royal Society in June last to consider the improvement of documentation service for scientific workers, I was very pleased to read the resolution regarding the library profession. I took it as an S O S from those engaged on research calling for help from those engaged on library work. The downpour of literature has become so heavy, specialization among scientific workers so intense, and coverage of publications is becoming so narrow in extension and so deep in intension that a worker is in danger of missing much nascent thought, so essential for economic pursuit of research. Unless there is proper reference service in libraries the work of the specialists will suffer, and unless there is proper documentation the reference service will suffer—they say. Unless a powerful scheme of classification is brought into use and unless cataloguing is intimately integrated with such a classification, proper documentation will not be possible, we say. Unless some of the best brains of the day are spared for the library profession and the library profession itself is made attractive enough in status and salary to retain them, those necessary library techniques, that have the modern alternative name of documentation technique, will not be forged and kept continuously sharpened, we say. It is gratifying that the conference has by a resolution conceded our demand about status and emoluments. I welcome this opportunity to expound along what lines we should proceed to improve our technique to the necessary level of efficiency. The table on p. 224 gives a synopsis of what I propose to say.

Classifying concepts via visual properties

“…Further, the canon of hospitality in arrays and chains [14], for us, states that a new concept can be appropriately positioned and uniquely identified anywhere in the hierarchy. These canons cumulatively ascribes to the notational plane the quality of perpetuation, "the devices necessary and sufficient to represent uniquely and unequivocally-that is, to individualize-every new formation thrown forth ... from time to time" [23], which attests to its continuous evolution. Thus, a true classification concept hierarchy emerges in the Notational Plane, with the unique identifiers performing Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) and also rendering the space, synonym, homonym and polysemy free, at the same time.…”

The Creation of New Knowledge by Information Retrieval and Classification

“…He once wrote '[i]f all classifiers were made doctors overnight, they would prefer corpses to live patients' [65, p. 228]. Although Colon incorporated techniques for increasing its hospitality to new topics it too soon required revision and consequently in the latter part of his career Ranganathan turned his attention to the need to devise a means whereby any classifier could arrive at the correct class number for a new subject without waiting for a decision by a body responsible for revising the schedules [66].…”

Features, Functions and Components of a Library Classification System in the LIS tradition for the e-Environment

“…There cannot be a self-perpetuating classification as Ranganathan (1949) vaunted of his CC. Most of the credit for the popularity of not-so scientific schemes such as the LCC and the DDC goes to their respective institutional support.…”