Classification is a fundamental concept and activity within Knowledge Organization, coexisting, in this context, with processes related to the description and indexing of documents in the domain of Libraries, Archives, and other “memory institutions.” The course aims to analyze, understand, and practically apply Classification systems in order to achieve comprehensive and effective subject access to the documents within a collection.

Students will understand and become familiar with:

• The general concepts of classification, hierarchy, and inheritance
• The relationship between classification, subject analysis, and indexing, as well as its use in the development of catalogs and the physical arrangement (shelving) of documents
• The study, analysis, and application of Classification systems, with an emphasis on the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and the Library of Congress Classification (LCC).

Week #1: Introduction to classification

Week #2: Terminology, rules and basic classification vocabulary

Week #3: Dewey Decimal Classification: Basic concepts

Week #4: Dewey Decimal Classification: Tables

Week #5: Dewey Decimal Classification: rules

Week #6: Library of Congress Classification: basic concepts

Week #7: Library of Congress Classification: Schedules

Week #8: Library of Congress Classification: link structure

Week #9: Library of Congress Subject Headings

Week #10: Cutter numbers / tables

Week #11: LCSH and correlation with taxonomic systems

Week #12: Comparison of LCC & DDC taxonomic systems

Week #13: Recap

• Chan, L.M. and Salaba, A. (2016). Cataloging and classification: an introduction (4th ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
• Library of Congress Classification PDF Files
• OCLC training modules and related materials
• Cataloger’s desktop: http://desktop.loc.gov
• Library of Congress Classification Web: https://classificationweb.net/
• Classification and Shelflisting: http://www.loc.gov/aba/cataloging/classification/
• WebDewey: http://dewey.org/webdewey/standardSearch.html

Lectures, lab sessions obligatory for each lecture, examples of classification, visits to the library

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Mid-term review of progress, written exam at the end of semester in theory and laboratory