PROBLEMS OF INDEXING AND CLASSIFICATION IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

In: International social science journal: ISSJ, Band 23, Heft 2, S. 244-255

Abstract

Classification & indexing of modern specialist literature requires a multi-dimensional system. The Decimal Classification of Melvil Dewey reflected the 'sci'fic classification' of the 19th cent into genus-species hierarchies, but only rarely provided for synthesis. The Universal Decimal Classification extended this possibility by providing the Auxiliary Signs & Tables. The work of modern psychol'ts, notably J. Piaget, J. S. Bruner & T. P. Guilford has proved that the mind creates a basic structural pattern of multiplicative classification formed into a lattice system & not a series of monolithic hierarchies. This process has been matched by S. R. Ranganathan's Colon Classification & his technique of facet analysis. This has had important applications in the construction of thesauri of terms in specialist fields, as has been shown by the work of the Classification Res Group of London, & in the detailed computerized subject indexing as in the PRECIS system of the British Nat'l Bibliog. Appendixes list the categories of terms used in 3 systems for educ: the London Educ Classification (1963), the Information Retrieval Thesaurus of Educ'al Terms (1968), & the Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors (1969). AA.