Classification in the U.K.: introducing the 2017 CILIP CIG classification survey

摘要

Classification is a critical part of cataloguing and indexing activities; yet, amid the major changes in the bibliographic world in the 2010s, it could be argued that discussing classification has not been the first priority of practitioners in recent years. An event in June 2017 organised by CILIP CIG, entitled “Thinking about classification” and devised by the authors of this article, hoped to counteract this. A survey was designed by the authors of this article in conjunction with this event, which explored the classification practices within U.K. libraries. This article offers some preliminary results from this survey, illuminating the real world of U.K. classification practices in 2017. The survey served a number of purposes. First, it was felt that recent information about what was being classified and usage of classification schemes was lacking, and it would be useful to get broad data which would partially answer these fundamental questions. Second, one session in the classification event focussed on reclassification, and so results from the survey could be used as a starting point for exploring reclassification practices. Third, certain concepts such as reclassification and adaptation are not widely written about on a conceptual level, so the survey could help provide some raw data which would inform future theoretical research into these areas. This article starts by describing the methodology of the survey, including its dissemination. This is followed by a description of the demographic results. The main part of the article explores two areas: whether specific types of materials are usually classified, and, how schemes are used (or “consumed”) within the U.K. So, a picture is built up of contemporary U.K. classification practices.