Prolegomena to Library Classification

Implementing faceted classification for software reuse

Abstract: Experience with the development, implementation, and deployment of reuse library technology is reported. The focus is on organizing software collections for reuse using faceted classifications. Briefly described are the successfully GTE Data Services' Asset Management Program and the steps taken at Contel for furthering reuse technology. The technology developed for reuse libraries is presented, followed by a description of how it was transferred. The experience described indicates that reuse library technology is available and transferable, and that it definitely has a positive financial impact on the organization implementing it. >

Collaborative tagging as a knowledge organisation and resource discovery tool

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of the collaborative tagging phenomenon and explore some of the reasons for its emergence.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the related literature and discusses some of the problems associated with, and the potential of, collaborative tagging approaches for knowledge organisation and general resource discovery. A definition of controlled vocabularies is proposed and used to assess the efficacy of collaborative tagging. An exposition of the collaborative tagging model is provided and a review of the major contributions to the tagging literature is presented.Findings – There are numerous difficulties with collaborative tagging systems (e.g. low precision, lack of collocation, etc.) that originate from the absence of properties that characterise controlled vocabularies. However, such systems can not be dismissed. Librarians and information professionals have lessons to learn from the interactive and social aspects exemplified by colla...

The need for a faceted classification as the basis of all methods of information retrieval

Abstract: Purpose – The aim of this article is to estimate the impact of faceted classification and the faceted analytical method on the development of various information retrieval tools over the latter part of the twentieth and early twenty‐first centuries.Design/methodology/approach – The article presents an examination of various subject access tools intended for retrieval of both print and digital materials to determine whether they exhibit features of faceted systems. Some attention is paid to use of the faceted approach as a means of structuring information on commercial web sites. The secondary and research literature is also surveyed for commentary on and evaluation of facet analysis as a basis for the building of vocabulary and conceptual tools.Findings – The study finds that faceted systems are now very common, with a major increase in their use over the last 15 years. Most LIS subject indexing tools (classifications, subject heading lists and thesauri) now demonstrate features of facet analysis to a gre...

Information interaction: providing a framework for information architecture

Abstract: Information interaction is the process that people use in interacting with the content of an information system. Information architecture is a blueprint and navigational aid to the content of information-rich systems. As such information architecture performs an important supporting role in information interactivity. This article elaborates on a model of information interactivity that crosses the "no-man's land" between user and computer articulating a model that includes user, content and system, illustrating the context for information architecture.

Bibliographic classification theory and text linguistics: aboutness analysis, intertextuality and the cognitive act of classifying documents

Abstract: A strong definition of aboutness and a theory of its role in information retrieval systems have not been developed. Such a definition and theory may be extracted from the work of T. A. van Dijk. This paper discusses some of the implications of van Dijk's work for bibliographic classification theory. Two kinds of intertextuality are identified: that between documents classified in the same class of the same classification system; and that between the classification system as a text in its own right and the documents that are classified by it. Consideration of the two kinds of intertextuality leads to an investigation of the linguistic/cognitive processes that have been called the ‘translation’ of a document topic into a classificatory language. A descriptive model of the cognitive process of classifying documents is presented. The general design of an empirical study to test this model is suggested, and some problems of implementing such a study are briefly identified. It is concluded that further investigation of the relationships between text linguistics and classification theory and practice might reveal other fruitful intersections between the two fields.