THE UNIVERSE OF INFORMATION.pdf - ideals

Chapter
V
THE UNIVERSAL DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UDC
The two major tasks confronting Otlet and La Fontaine
after the International Institute and Office of Bibliography had
been formally constituted were the development of the Decimal
Classification and the Universal Bibliographic Repertory
(RBU). The two were not developed independently, of course,
though it is convenient to discuss them separately. The tool
became increasingly complex and sophisticated as the tasks
it was required to perform became so. The Decimal Classification
was viewed as a prerequisite for international bibliographic
cooperation in general and for the elaboration of the
RBU in particular. In the last part of 1895 and early in 1896
before the move to the new location, Otlet and La Fontaine
had arranged for the translation and publication of parts of
the classification. For the Conference they had translated the
tables for sociology and law with an alphabetical index in
English, French and German. 1 This was followed by a translation
of the first thousand divisions similarly indexed, and by
the general geographical tables. 2 A brief explanation of the
nature of the classification and of its «bibliographic nomenclature*
was issued early in 1896, 3 and this became part of other
early tables as they were published. 4 These first tables, except
those for sociology and law, were not expanded, 5 but were
simple translations of the 1894 American edition of the classification.
These few publications formed the nucleus for further development.
This came rapidly in the next few years by a process
of co-ordinated decentralisation. The highly technical task
of developing the tables, the accomplishment of which with
any degree of depth and completeness demanded extensive
subject expertise, was assigned to groups of outside collaborators.
This was the taxonomic, enumerative aspect of the
classification by which it was related directly and intimately
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