The subject organization of materials on Africa: an overview of recent work

Abstract

In 1972 Amankwe published a survey of ‘Africa in the standard classification schemes’. In this he concentrated principally on the Decimal Classification, The Library of Congress Classification and The Bibliographic Classification. He paid particular attention to the problems of area designation, language, literature and anthropology and to such related matters as historical and racial subdivisions. Since that date much has been published on specific topics but no attempt has been made to survey the field in its entirety and it is the intention of the present article to collect together the strands, draw attention to important publications and look towards the future, particularly with reference to the need for standardization with the increasing use of automated systems throughout the World. The author or the editor of this journal would welcome any additional information and in particular any ‘in-house’ versions of parts of classification schemes, subject headings lists and authority files for names of persons, corporate bodies, etc., with a view to promoting greater interchange and participation in the development of standards for bibliographic work.