THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE NEW LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON
| Published date | 01 April 1954 |
| Pages | 169-192 |
| Date | 01 April 1954 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb026207 |
| Author | KENNETH GARSIDE |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
The
Journal
of
DOCUMENTATION
Volume
10
DECEMBER
1954
Number
4
THE BASIC PRINCIPLES
OF THE NEW
LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION
AT
UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE, LONDON
by
KENNETH GARSIDE,
M.A.
Deputy
Librarian,
University
College,
London
IT
is
characteristic of the modern English universities that
a
close relationship
exists between
the
library
and the
teaching departments.
The
fact that
the
library forms
an
integral part
of the
academic community,
in
daily, even
hourly, touch with the teaching
staff,
has
a
profound bearing
on
every aspect
of library policy.
The
academic staff take
an
active interest
in the
library,
particularly
in
those parts
of the
library serving
the
teaching
and
research
carried
on in
their
own
departments,
and it is
indeed
not
unusual
for a
pro-
fessor
to
show as great
a
concern
for
the actual arrangement
of
the
books
on
the shelves
as for the
addition of the right books
and
periodicals
to the
book
stock.
It
is
precisely
to
meet this need
to
provide
the
most satisfactory arrange-
ment
of
the books
on the
shelves
in
each subject that
an
entirely
new
classi-
fication scheme
is
being evolved
and
applied
in the
Library
of
University
College, London.
The
decision
to
undertake
a
task
of
this magnitude
was
taken only after
a
careful examination
of
the principal published classifica-
tions
had
shown beyond
all
doubt that none
of
them would
be
generally
acceptable
to the
teaching departments without such major modifications
as
would have destroyed its essential character. Although the
new
classification
is still
far
from complete,
a
number of representative subjects have
now
been
classified
and the
pattern of the scheme itself established.
It is the
purpose
of
this article
to
record
the
principles which have been adopted
as the
basis
of
the classification
and to
describe
the
methods
by
which they
are
being
put
into effect.
The College Library already possessed
a
rudimentary form of classification
in that
it
was divided into subjects corresponding
to the
departmental struc-
ture of the College
itself.
This division
by
academic subjects represented
an
already deep-rooted tradition which
had
perhaps taken
on a
more extreme
form
in
this College because of the system of separate rooms each devoted
to
O
169
170 THE JOURNAL OF DOCUMENTATION
VOL.
10,
NO.
4
a subject or group of related subjects introduced by its most distinguished
former librarian, R. W. Chambers, after he had studied the seminar libraries
of German universities. Within each of these subject reading-rooms, how-
ever, the arrangement of the books was by fixed press-marks and, although
an attempt had indeed been made to group the books according to their
subject-matter, this inflexible system of shelving had inevitably got out of
hand as the number of volumes increased.
The problem has, therefore, been that of devising a classification for each
of the subject libraries which will meet the needs of the teaching departments
by reflecting faithfully the current academic approach to the literature of
each subject and which, at the same time, can be fitted into a homogeneous
overall classification scheme to form the basis of a subject catalogue for the
Library
as
a whole. By working out the classification for each subject in turn
certain advantages have been gained both by the Library and by the teaching
departments. The subject library certainly offers a unit of convenient size
for the actual process of classifying, whilst it remains the logical unit in a
Library which is so closely tied up with the academic work of the College.
The retention of the subject library as the unit gives the teaching department
the opportunity of securing an arrangement of the books on the shelves com-
patible with the methods of teaching and researeh carried on in the depart-
ment, and by giving the department a vested interest in the classification of
the books on its own subject the Library, in turn, is able to call upon the
experts in the department to help in the compilation of the classification
scheme and, equally advantageous to the Library, in the placing within
the scheme of works particularly difficult to classify. It is therefore from the
classification of the individual subjects in the academic curriculum that the
new scheme
is
being built up. The knitting together of these separate subject
classifications into a single comprehensive scheme is a matter which the
Library itself must work out; it does, however, present certain problems
which must be thought out carefully beforehand in order to produce a
thoroughly co-ordinated whole.
Notation
The notation which has been adopted is based primarily upon the division
of the Library into individual subject libraries, and two cardinal principles
have determined its form: simplicity and flexibility. A simple notation, pro-
viding an easily remembered shelf-mark, enables the reader to find his book
with the minimum of effort. A flexible notation is necessary in order to
make it possible to introduce bulges into the classification to accommodate
the large numbers of books on special subjects which may be added to the
curriculum, and also to permit of the revision of obsolete sections of the
schedules without disturbing the sections which remain valid; this is parti-
cularly important in the case of scientific and technical subjects still in process
of development.
Both these requirements seem to have been met by using letters to indicate
the main sections of each subject, subsequent subdivision being by running
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