Decimal classification
The decimal classification is a universal classification for classifying and describing knowledge, which was developed by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) for Duke Anton Ulrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1633–1714). Leibniz was employed there as a court historiographer and was responsible for the Herzog August Library in Hanover and Wolfenbüttel, for which he first used the decimal classification.
The decimal classification is based on the decimal system and divides knowledge into ten (basic) categories, each of which is divided into ten sub-categories; the sub-categories are in turn divided into ten sub-sub-categories, etc .; In contrast to later systems, this classification scheme is not standardized, so it can be freely adapted to the respective needs.
A general classification for a library could be structured as follows:
- 0: General , encyclopedias , dictionaries
- 1: literature
- 2: philosophy
- 3: history
- 4: Social sciences ( anthropology , linguistics , sociology , ethnology )
- 5: Law , State , Economy
- 6: Natural Sciences
- 7: art
- 8: music
- 9: Travel , geography
The individual categories are then branched into sub-categories; for main category 1 literature the classification could look like this:
- 1.0: Epic ( novel )
- 1.1: Poetry ( poetry )
- 1.2: Drama ( theater )
- 1.3: fairy tales
- 1.4: Essay
- 1.5: aphorism
- 1.6: letters
- 1.7: Diaries , memoirs
- 1.8: Translations
- 1.9: literary criticism
An alternative classification could be structured as follows:
- 1.0: Ancient
- 1.1: Middle Ages
- 1.2: Renaissance
- 1.3: Baroque
- 1.4: 18th century
- 1.5: 19th century
- 1.6: 20th century
- 1.7: 21st century
- 1.8: Orient , India , China
- 1.9: Literature of the non-scripted cultures
Now a further structure level with further sub-categories can be created; for the sub-category 1.0 epic (novel) the classification could look like this:
- 1.0.0: The verse epic from an oral tradition
- 1.0.1: The Art Epic (Virgil, Dante, Milton)
- 1.0.2: The ancient novel
- 1.0.3: The courtly epic
- 1.0.4: The novel in prose (16th and 17th centuries)
- 1.0.5: The epistle novel
- 1.0.6: The romance novel
- 1.0.7: The humorous novel
- 1.0.8: The development novel
- 1.0.9: The historical novel
The decimal classification was expanded by Melvil Dewey around 1876 and is known primarily in the Anglo-American language area as the Dewey decimal classification (DDC). The system most frequently used today is the Universal Decimal Classification (UDK; also: International Decimal Classification ) developed by Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine at the end of the 19th century .
In library science , the objects that are classified are called the Documentary Reference Unit (DBE). The decimal classification is an analytical classification that branches off from the general to the particular (ramisiert); they präkoordiniert knowledge mono hierarchical , that is, there is only a generic term.
See also
- Universal decimal classification (DK, UDK)
- Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC)
- Basic classification
- classification
- Monohierarchy , polyhierarchy
- Pre- coordination , post-coordination
- Colon classification
- Facet classification
- thesaurus