020.715A434no. 21

Major Classification Systems:

The Dewey Centennial

LIBRARY OF THEUNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

020/715A434no. 21

Lib. Scl

The person charging this material is re-

sponsible for its return to the library from

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are reasons for disciplinary action and mayresult in dismissal from the University.

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

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ALLERTON PARK INSTITUTE

Number 21

Papers Presented at the Allerton Park Institute

Sponsored by

Forest Press, Inc.

and

University of Illinois

Graduate School of Library Science

and

University of Illinois

Office of Continuing Education and Public Service

held

November 9-12, 1975

Allerton Park

Monticello, Illinois

Major Classification Systems:

The Dewey Centennial

edited by

Kathryn Luther Henderson

University of Illinois

Graduate School of Library Science

Urbana-Champaign, Illinois

Copyright 1976 byThe Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

LC Card Number: 76-026331ISBN: 0-87845-044-0

* r r

CONTENTS

Foreword vii

RICHARD B. SEALOCK

Introduction ix

KATHRYN LUTHER HENDERSON

Library Classification: One Hundred Years After Dewey 1

DAVID BATTY

The Historical Development of The Dewey Decimal

Classification System , 17

JOHN P. COMAROMI

Dewey Today: An Analysis of Recent Editions 32

MARGARET E. COCKSHUTT

Summary of a Survey of the Use of the Dewey Decimal

Classification in the United States and Canada 47MARY ELLEN MICHAEL

Dewey Today: The British and European Scene 59

JOEL C. DOWNING

The Library of Congress Classification Scheme and its

Relationship to Dewey 78

GORDON STEVENSON

Factors in the Selection of a Classification Scheme for a

Large General Library 99

PETER LEWIS

Dewey Decimal Classification, Universal Decimal Classification,

and the Broad System of Ordering: The Evolution of Universal

Ordering Systems 113

HANS H. WELLISCH

The Role of Indexing in Subject Retrieval 124

DEREK AUSTIN

The Role of Classification in Subject Retrieval in the Future. ... 157

PAULE ROLLAND-THOMAS

Contributors 175

Index . .179

VI

Foreword

One hundred years ago, in 1876, Melvil Dewey anonymously published

the first edition of his classification system. Forest Press, publisher of the

Dewey Decimal Classification since 1931, could think of no more suitable wayto honor the DDC and its author during this centennial year than to bring

together librarians interested in classification. It was with great pleasure,

therefore, that Forest Press welcomed the opportunity to cosponsor with the

University of Illinois Graduate School of Library Science the twenty-first

annual Allerton Park Institute. Held on November 9-12, 1975, the topic of

the institute was, most appropriately, "Major Classification Systems: the

Dewey Centennial."

The goal of the Allerton conference was to provide a forum for an

in-depth discussion of classification systems in general and of the DDC in

particular. Experts in the field from the United States, Canada, and England

presented papers on a variety of topics ranging from a look at recent editions

of the DDC and a comparison between Dewey and the Library of Congress

Classification, to an examination of the role of classification in subject

retrieval. The first report on the survey of DDC use in the United States and

Canada was also given at the conference. These papers, all original

contributions to the classification field, have been collected in the present

volume.

Forest Press wishes to thank in particular the two people whose

diligence and care made the conference possible: Kathryn Luther Henderson,

vii

viii FOREWORD

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library Science, University of Illinois

at Urbana-Champaign, and Chairperson of the Planning Committee; and

Herbert Goldhor, Director and Professor, Graduate School of Library Science.

We are also very grateful to the participants in the conference, for their essays

provide an excellent introduction to the study of classification and constitute

a fitting centennial tribute to the Dewey Decimal Classification.

RICHARD B. SEALOCKExecutive Director

Forest Press

June 1976