New edition of the essential guide to organizing library collections

Classification is everywhere. We classify birds and animals, languages and ethnic groups, stars, volcanoes, minerals and clouds, wine and blood, and colours and roses. We classify diseases, occupations and social status; the size of notepaper (grand eagle, elephant and pott); the dimensions of icebergs (small, bergy bits and growlers); and brandy (mellow, pale and superior).

Classification is therefore a crucial skill for all information workers involved in organizing collections. This new edition offers fully revised and updated guidance on how to go about classifying a document from scratch.

Fully updated by author Vanda Broughton, Professor of Library & Information Studies at University College London, Essential Classification leads the novice classifier step by step through the basics of subject cataloguing, with an emphasis on practical document analysis and classification.  It deals with fundamental questions of the purpose of classification in different situations, and the needs and expectations of end users. The reader is introduced to the ways in which document content can be assessed, and how this can best be expressed for translation into the language of specific indexing and classification systems. 

Fully updated to reflect changes to the major general schemes (Library of Congress, LCSH, Dewey and UDC) since the first edition, and with new chapters on working with informal classification, from folksonomies to tagging and social media, this new edition will set cataloguers on the right path. Key areas covered are:

• The need for classification
• The variety of classification
• The structure of classification
• Working with informal classification
• Management aspects of classification
• Classification in digital space.

This guide is essential reading for library school students, novice cataloguers and all information workers who need to classify but have not formally been taught how. It also offers practical guidance to computer scientists, internet and intranet managers, and all others concerned with the design and maintenance of subject tools.

Essential Classification;July 2015; paperback; 336pp; 9781783300310; £49.95; is published by Facet Publishing and is available from Bookpoint Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)1235 827702 | Fax: +44 (0)1235 827703 | Email: facet@bookpoint.co.uk | Web: www.facetpublishing.co.uk. | Mailing Address: Mail Order Dept, 39 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4TD  The US edition is available in North America through ALA Editions.