CHOICE OF SCHEME FOR CLASSIFICATION - Indian Statistical ...

Fallacy of Resisters
Facts of the Case
analysis" (7). In respect of LC, the observation of the Odense Meeting is confirmed by
the following statement of Putnam: "The system of classification ... is one devised from
... a consideration of the particular conditions in this Library (Library of Congress), the
character of its present and probable collection and of its probable use ... ' (32). LC is thus
a scheme tailored to meet the arrangement of the books of a particular library on its
shelves.
The antithesis between a Scheme for Classification for shelf arrangement of
books and one for bibliographical classification- that is, a Scheme for Classification for
the arrangement of the main entries in the classified part of a documentation list of micro
subjects - arises from a fallacy. Without actual experience, the resisters to the adoption of
a so-called "Bibliographical Classification" to 'Shelf Arrangement' assume that the Class
Numbers of books also will have many facets and will be as long as those for micro
documents. If the resisters actually apply a so-called "Bibliographical Classification",
such as CC, to an assortment of a few hundreds of books, then they will see that a
Classificatory Language which gives co-extensive Class Numbers with many facets,
though long to subjects of minute extension and deep intension, can give for books Class
Numbers with very few facets and as short as and perhaps even shorter than, the so-called
"Library Classification '. The versatility of CC is comparable to that of the trunk of an
elephant which has at once the amazing strength to uproot a tree with ease and also the
nimble simplicity to pick out a grain with equal ease.
The correct way of deciding the issue is the statistical one. A sample of 1,300
books consisting of those lent out during one month from the Madras University Library
was used as the basis for statistical study. They were classified by CC and DC. It was
found that the average number of digits for a Class Number was 4-8 in CC - a so-called
"Bibliographical Classification - and 5.8 in DC -a so-called "Library Classification” (42,
65). Thus, the view of the resisters to the use of one and the same Scheme for
Classification both for shelf arrangement and for documentation lists is without basis.
2 SEQUENCE OF MAIN SUBJECTS
2.1 Finding of the Odense Meeting
A finding of the Odense Meeting concerns the sequence of the Main Subjects in
the different schemes. It is as follows: "The main structure [that is, the sequence of the
Main Subjects] of all the three systems [BC, LC, and UDC] is antiquated and not
consistent with the consensus of the scientists of today. This is of course very regrettable
from the point of view of a modern library" (Para 5).
2.2 Recent Changes in UDC
Being based on DC, the sequence of the Main Subjects in UDC is substantially
the same as in DC. These Main Subjects are to be found among the 1,000 subjects