The Universal Decimal Classification: Some factors concerning its origins, development, and influence

Abstract

The bibliographic enterprise envisaged by Otlet and La‐Fontaine, which resulted in the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) being developed in 1895, and the subsequent history of the scheme is outlined. Relationship with Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) from which it was derived deteriorated in the early 20th century and changes in funding, location, and editorship of Duyvis from 1929–1959 had a profound effect on the scheme's development and management. Lloyd, Duyvis's successor, reformed the revision structure, and further management changes from 1975 to the present day, culminated in the formation of the UDC Consortium in 1992. The subsequent creation of a machine‐readable Master Reference File and speedier revision procedures are noted. The scheme's structure, development, and influence on classification theory are examined, problems caused by longevity and lack of standard procedures, and proposals for their reform to improve the scheme's suitability for an automated world are highlighted. Research projects in the 1960s foreshadowed possibilities today being explored, such as a complementary thesaurus and individualization of single concepts notationally. The value of classification in a multilingual environment is emphasized and future developments outlined. A list of recent editions is appended. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Managing Hardcopy Drawings

“…The first library classification scheme to be developed was the Dewey Decimal, with the Universal Decimal coming later when the Dewey was in its fifth edition. It was with the permission of the originator, Melvil Dewey, that the originators of the Universal Decimal were permitted to expand the classes in order to handle the great detail they envisaged in their new system [15]. Authority articles, such as reference [15], capture this historical reality very well that it is would not be necessary to repeat it here.…”

“…Among such schemes are the Library of Congress Classification (LCC), the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), and its offshoots, the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), Colon Classification, Bliss Classification, etc. In addition, there are many databases, cataloguing and indexing tools such as Library and Information Science Abstract (LISA), ASIS Thesaurus of Information Science and Librarianship; etc., [15,16,17]. The purpose of classification systems, in essence, is to enable logical arrangement of items, such as books on the shelves of libraries, as well as cataloguing.…”

A data-centric way to improve entity linking in knowledge-based question answering

“…Careful consideration needs to be given to the division of domains, as fewer domain divisions would make the distinction insufficient, while too many would make some words difficult to classify. We therefore learned from the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) and some of its subsequent classification criteria ( McIlwaine, 1997 ). The encyclopedia knowledge is therefore divided into nine domains.…”

What publics do online matters: Internet use and political information behaviors

“…Information behavior is a broad concept that encompasses the various ways that humans interact with information, particularly the ways they seek and utilize it (Bate, 2010). Information behavior includes a wide range of human behaviors, from information seeking (Spink and Cole, 2004) and information organization behavior (McIlwaine, 1997) to information use behavior (Dervin, 1992). Communication scholars (Grunig, 1997; Kim and Grunig, 2011), in particular, have viewed communication as “a human behavior,” defining it “as a means by which people acquire and disseminate pictures of reality in order to direct (control) their movements both alone and in company with other people” (Grunig, 1976, p. 7).…”