LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION. Books alone are no more a library than boxes of type or dictionaries of words are A collection of books must be classified before it deserves the name library.
Classification is putting like things together. Each book, pamphlet. clipping. map. or other item goes with any others like it on a carefully sys tematized plan, so that matter most closely allied and oftenest used with it will precede or follow closely. Only thus can all reasonable demands of readers be met fully and promptly. The vital importance of classification has long been recog nized. Alexander Bain says, learn to clas sify is in itself an education." But practical difficulties were so grave as largely- to neutralize advantages. It is an almost endless work to pre pare a complete scheme, and when done it never wholly suits the maker, much less any one else. To avoid the inevitable delays and confusion of these elaborate systems, some libraries were ar ranged in order of acquisition, some by authors like a directory. Usually there was coarse classi fication by subjects, and librarians and readers did the best they could to find their resources by aid of bibliographies. subject catalogues, and in dexes. Sonic classifications had no indexes. Others referred to pages of scheme on which sub jects might be found. The book number itself indicated a fixed location on a particular shelf and had to be altered as often as growth made it necessary to move that subject.
The great desideratum was a system that would do away with the expensive necessity of renum bering books whenever their location was changed. This was provided in 1KG by the publication of the Decimal Classification and Relative Index, which showed by the same number both subject and location. This scheme divided the field of knowledge into nine main classes, numbered I to 9. Eneyelopmdias. periodicals, etc., so general in character as to belong to no one of these classes, are marked 0 and form a tenth class. Each class is similarly separated into nine divisions, general works belonging to no division having naught in place of the division number. Divisions are sim ilarly divided into nine sections and the proee•s is repeated as often as necessary, the full tables covering some •(1.000 topics.
Books on the shelves and cards in the subject catalogue are arranged in simple numerical order, all class numbers being decimal. Since each sub ject has a definite number, it follows that all hooks on any subject must stand together. The tables show the order in which subjects follow one another, 512 algebra preceding 513 geometry, and following 511 arithmetic. Of this E. C.
Richardson says in his Classification, Theoretical and Practical (pages 199-200), published by Scribners in 1901: "This system has probably had more vogue than any other bibliographic system ever pub lished save possibly that of Brunet. Taken as a whole and regarding the substantially unehang ing form and notation, among the multitude of derived systems with minor variations, it is un doubtedly true that no system ever invented has been applied to as many libraries (probably at the present day several thousand) as this. In many libraries considerable changes have been made, but in the majority it remains practically unchanged. It is now being adopted very gen •rally on the Continent of Europe by booksellers even as well as libraries. and is of late, through its adoption by the Brussels Institute ( for inter national bibliographic work), having a very zeal ous propaganda by its converts, especially in France and Italy. Many of the most noteworthy partial classifications of the present day are avowedly founded on and are enlargements of this system. The system itself is supposed to he in sonic way an adaptation of Bacon, but the relation is hardly to be discovered and it really should be counted as independent. The reasons for its deserved popularity are to he found: (1) In an intelligent and consistent application of the decimal notation (not new' with Dewey, but first by him vigorously and consistently applied) : (2) in the grasp of mnemonic possibilities of this situation: (3) in the practical. intelligent, and often up-to-date management of the remoter sub divisions of the. in some places. somewhat arti ficial. larger sub-classes: (4) in the fully printed schedules with their 'relative index,' which more than anything else i- the cause of the practical ity of this system and its wide adoption. In other words, its popularity has been due to in telligent practical usefulness." The user of a library as a rule has no interest or know ledge as to theories of the scheme used. Ili- concern is to find quickly any subject wanted' and to find near it other closely allied subjects which he is also likely to consult. Ex perience proved the proposed change from fixed to relative location practical. This solved most of the dillicniticc, so that in recent years most libraries careful in deciding on methods .adopt the most important characteristics noted below as recognized essentials in a satisfactory library classification.