EA Research

Notes On Classification & Indexing Theory

01/27/01

When information needs a body, when databases need design, when data requires organization it is useful to consider classification models for completeness. Before designing an information framework and user interface, keep in mind the 5 laws of library science of  Ranganathan. Although directed to books,  libraries, and readers, these rules seem to apply quite well to any information system. The fundamental rules recognize the primary identity, utility, and relationship between a subject and their audience. The 5 laws of library science are:

1. Books are for use
2. Every book to its reader
3. Every reader to their book
4. Save the time of the reader
5. The library is a growing organism

The card catalog is a useful retrieval mechanism (3). Providing organization by title, author, and subject it makes retrieval faster (4). However the fundamental peripatetic act of  browsing stacks of books lets readers find clusters of related books (2).

Inventing categories - Naming categories is a challenge and the name schemes used in libraries for their subjects is useful for book inventories, but what if we have to name any other goods? Basically one attempts to look at the whole subject area examining common and differentiating factors to build a master category list. Each category can be faceted into subordinate elements. One rule in inventing categories is that if your category can only hold a few members, then it is a false category and should be merged or subordinated to another category.

Other Classification Systems

The following classification systems are useful to test your information model against.