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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a general overview with up-to-date information on the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) use worldwide. Design/methodology/approach - The research combined e-mail interviews with LIS professionals in 208 countries, literature research and information obtained from UDC distributors/publishers (AENOR, BSI, UDC Consortium). The following categorisation of UDC use was offered: A - dominant system; B - used in some kind of libraries only; or C - rarely used. Findings - The paper finds that, of the 208 countries contacted and researched through the literature in 2004-2006, the UDC was found to be used in 124 (60 per cent) of these. In 34 (28 per cent) of the countries researched (in Europe, Asia and Africa), UDC is the main classification system used across national information networks. In 45 (36 per cent) of the countries it is used in certain kinds of libraries. In the remaining 45 (36 per cent) of the countries it is used rarely, in only a few libraries or information centres. Research limitations/implications - It was beyond the scope of this research to provide any information regarding the actual number of institutions using UDC in a given country or to give an estimate of the size and number of document collections organised by it. Although a decline in UDC use since the 1980s was reported from a number of countries, it was not possible to measure this accurately. Practical implications - The interest shown for using UDC in the organisation of digital collections, information exchange and cross domain and cross collection resource discovery depends on accurate knowledge of its actual usage worldwide. This gives a measure of its global importance and verifies its credentials as an indexing standard. This research, which attempted wider and more systematic coverage than previous surveys, should help clarify the status of UDC and its potential use in the networked environment. Originality/value - The paper provides up-to-date information on the presence of the UDC system across countries and languages.

Purpose - This paper aims to provide an overview of principles and procedures involved in creating a faceted classification scheme for use in resource discovery in an online environment.Design methodology approach - Facet analysis provides an established rigorous methodology for the conceptual organization of a subject field, and the structuring of an associated classification or controlled vocabulary. This paper explains how that methodology was applied to the humanities in the FATKS project, where the objective was to explore the potential of facet analytical theory for creating a controlled vocabulary for the humanities, and to establish the requirements of a faceted classification appropriate to an online environment. A detailed faceted vocabulary was developed for two areas of the humanities within a broader facet framework for the whole of knowledge. Research issues included how to create a data model which made the faceted structure explicit and machine-readable and provided for its further development and use.Findings - In order to support easy facet combination in indexing, and facet searching and browsing on the interface, faceted classification requires a formalized data structure and an appropriate tool for its management. The conceptual framework of a faceted system proper can be applied satisfactorily to humanities, and fully integrated within a vocabulary management system.Research limitations implications - The procedures described in this paper are concerned only with the structuring of the classification, and do not extend to indexing, retrieval and application issues.Practical implications - Many stakeholders in the domain of resource discovery consider developing their own classification system and supporting tools. The methods described in this paper may clarify the process of building a faceted classification and may provide some useful ideas with respect to the vocabulary maintenance tool.Originality value - As far as the authors are aware there is no comparable research in this area.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a general overview with up-to-date information on the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) use worldwide.Design methodology approach - The research combined e-mail interviews with LIS professionals in 208 countries, literature research and information obtained from UDC distributors publishers (AENOR, BSI, UDC Consortium). The following categorisation of UDC use was offered: A - dominant system; B - used in some kind of libraries only; or C - rarely used.Findings - The paper finds that, of the 208 countries contacted and researched through the literature in 2004-2006, the UDC was found to be used in 124 (60 per cent) of these. In 34 (28 per cent) of the countries researched (in Europe, Asia and Africa), UDC is the main classification system used across national information networks. In 45 (36 per cent) of the countries it is used in certain kinds of libraries. In the remaining 45 (36 per cent) of the countries it is used rarely, in only a few libraries or information centres.Research limitations implications - It was beyond the scope of this research to provide any information regarding the actual number of institutions using UDC in a given country or to give an estimate of the size and number of document collections organised by it. Although a decline in UDC use since the 1980s was reported from a number of countries, it was not possible to measure this accurately.Practical implications - The interest shown for using UDC in the organisation of digital collections, information exchange and cross domain and cross collection resource discovery depends on accurate knowledge of its actual usage worldwide. This gives a measure of its global importance and verifies its credentials as an indexing standard. This research, which attempted wider and more systematic coverage than previous surveys, should help clarify the status of UDC and its potential use in the networked environment.Originality value - The paper provides up-to-date information on the presence of the UDC system across countries and languages.

Networked oriented standards for vocabulary publishing and exchange and proposals for terminological services and terminology registries will improve sharing and use of all knowledge organization systems in the networked information environment. This means that documentary classifications may also become more applicable for use outside their original domain of application. The paper summarises some characteristics common to documentary classifications and explains some terminological, functional and implementation aspects. The original purpose behind each classification scheme determines the functions that the vocabulary is designed to facilitate. These functions influence the structure, semantics and syntax, scheme coverage and format in which classification data are published and made available. The author suggests that attention should be paid to the differences between documentary classifications as these may determine their suitability for a certain purpose and may impose different requirements with respect to their use online. As we speak, many classifications are being created for knowledge organization and it may be important to promote expertise from the bibliographic domain with respect to building and using classification systems. Adapted from the source document.

El artículo pone en relieve algunos aspectos de la política de gestión de la CDU desde 2007 en adelante. Tras una revisión de la larga historia de modernización de esta clasificación, que comenzó en la década de los 60, continuando el proceso de revisión y desarrollo del esquema en los 1990, se resumen los cambios y políticas más importantes de la historia reciente de la CDU. Finalmente, se presentan los puntos de vista del nuevo equipo editorial del CDU establecido en 2007, y su nueva política que se enfoca en la organización y eficiencia del trabajo editorial y la mejora de los productos de la CDU.

The paper discusses issues related to the use of faceted classifications in an online environment. The author argues that knowledge organization systems can be fully utilized in information retrieval only if they are exposed and made available for machine processing. The experience with classification automation to date may be used to speed up and ease the conversion of existing faceted schemes or the creation of management tools for new systems. The author suggests that it is possible to agree on a set of functional requirements for supporting faceted classifications online that are equally relevant for the maintenance of classifications, the creation of classification indexing tools, or the management of classifications in an authority file. It is suggested that a set of requirements for analytico-synthetic classifications may be put forward to improve standards for the use and exchange of knowledge organization systems.

Linked data (LD) technology is hailed as a long-awaited solution in web-based information exchange. Linked Open Data (LOD) bring this to another level by enabling meaningful linking of resources and creating a global, openly accessible knowledge graph. Our case is the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) and the challenges for a KOS service provider to maintain an LD service. UDC was created during the period 1896--1904 to support systematic organization and information retrieval of a bibliography. When discussing UDC as LD we make a distinction between two types of UDC data or two provenances: UDC source data, and UDC codes as they appear in metadata. To serve the purpose of supplying semantics one has to front--end UDC LD with a service that can parse and interpret complex UDC strings. While the use of UDC is free the publishing and distributing of UDC data is protected by a licence. Publishing of UDC both as LD and as LOD must be provided for within a complex service that would allow open access as well as access through a paywall barrier for different levels of licences. The practical task of publishing the UDC as LOD was informed by the '10Things guidelines'. The process includes conceptual parts and technological parts. The transition to a new technology is never a purely mechanical act but is a research endeavour in its own right. The UDC case has shown the importance of cross-domain, inter-disciplinary collaboration which needs experts well situated in multiple knowledge domains.

The vision of the Semantic Web (SW) is gradually unfolding and taking shape through a web of linked data, a part of which is built by capturing semantics stored in existing knowledge organization systems (KOS), subject metadata and resource metadata. The content of vast bibliographic collections is currently categorized by some widely used bibliographic classification and we may soon see them being mined for information and linked in a meaningful way across the Web. Bibliographic classifications are designed for knowledge mediation which offers both a rich terminology and different ways in which concepts can be categorized and related to each other in the universe of knowledge. From 1990-2010 they have been used in various resource discovery services on the Web and continue to be used to support information integration in a number of international digital library projects. In this chapter we will revisit some of the ways in which universal classifications, as language independent concept schemes, can assist humans and computers in structuring and presenting information and formulating queries. Most importantly, we highlight issues important to understanding bibliographic classifications, both in terms of their unused potential and technical limitations.