The Subject Classification of James Duff Brown 18621914

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The Subject Classification of James Duff Brown
(1862-1914)

• Clare Beghtol
• University of Toronto
• ASIST SIG/CR
• Providence, R.I., 2004

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Outline

• Introduction and background
• Browns ideas
• On classification
• On the relationships of topics
• Subject Classification
• Provisions for multi-topic works
• Twentieth century issues
• Interdisciplinarity
• BBC2 Phenomenon class
• Some conclusions

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Browns life and career

• Born in Edinburgh, Scotland (1862)
• Self-taught in many areas
• Wrote on librarianship, music, and literature
• Manual of Library Classification and Shelf
  Arrangement (1898) thought to be the first book
  on classification read by W.C.B. Sayers
• Started the influential journal Library World A
  Medium of Intercommunication for Librarians
  (1898)
• Strong believer in open stacks in public
  libraries
• Designed floor plan for Clerkenwell public
  library so library users could browse the stacks

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Plan of first floor, Clerkenwell(Baker, 1990, p.
15)
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Browns classification systems

• Quinn-Brown Classification, 1894
• Adjustable Classification, 1898
• Subject Classification
• 3 editions 1906, 1914, 1939 (revised by nephew
  after Browns death)
• Well-received in both the U.K. and the U.S.
• Brown considered it to be a home-grown scheme
  more suitable for England than Dewey
• Designed for shelf browsing in an open stack
  public library

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Brown on classification

• No library classification can be permanent or
  useful for everyone
• There are dozens of rational systems to choose
  from, each capable of infinite adjustment to suit
  the views, or knowledge, or the want of it,
  possessed by the librarian. The system of Francis
  Bacon, dating from 1623, can be made just as
  elastic and comprehensive as the more elaborate
  and modern systems of Edwards, the British
  Museum, Dewey, Cutter, Perkins, Fletcher, or
  Sonnenschein. There is not the slightest
  difficulty in working out a complete scheme from
  any basis, nor does it matter much into what main
  divisions specific subjects are put, provided
  always they are kept together on the shelves
  (1897 149)

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Brown on relationships of topics

• The departments of human knowledge are so
  numerous, their intersections so great, their
  changes so frequent, and their variety so
  confusing, that is impossible to show that they
  proceed from one source or germ, or that they can
  be arranged so that each enquirer will find the
  complete literature of his subject at one fixed
  place. Subjects overlap and qualify each other in
  every conceivable manner, and they are further
  complicated by considerations of literary form
  and the points of view from which they may be
  studied. Every subject is capable of being
  treated from a large number of standpoints, and
  each of these may be the center of an enormous
  literature, and form an important study (1914
  8)

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Subject Classification - 1

• Established in the general order of
• Matter and Force (Generalia and Physical
  Sciences)
• Life (Biology, Ethnology, Medicine, Economic
  Biology, Domestic Arts)
• Mind (Philosophy, Religion, Political and Social
  Science)
• Record (Language, Literature, Literary forms,
  History, Geography, Biography)
• Brown considered this a logical order, or at
  any rate, according to a progression for which
  reasons, weak or strong, can be advanced (1914
  11)

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Subject Classification 2Outline
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Subject Classification - 3

• Brown advocated
• One-place classification
• Concrete subjects should have only one place,
  qualified by standpoints
• Rose could be qualified by its standpoints,
  i.e., Biological, Botanical, Horticultural,
  Historical, Geographical, Ethical, Decorative,
  Legal, Emblematical, Bibliographical, Poetical,
  Musical, Sociological, and so on to any extent
  (1914 8).
• This idea carried out in the classification by
  three kinds of notational synthesis, i.e.

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Subject Classification - 4

• Intra-class synthesis
• Synthesis from two sections of the same main
  class achieved by and omission of the main
  class letter
• Cats and dogs F952 F918 F952 918
• No preferred citation order
• Inter-class synthesis
• Synthesis from two main classes by and
  retention of the main class letter
• Logic and rhetoric A300 M170
• Gambling in dog racing L933 F944
• Called composite subjects or composite books
• No preferred citation order

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Subject Classification - 5

• The Categorical Table
• a table of forms, phases, standpoints,
  qualifications, etc., which apply more or less
  to every subject or subdivision of a subject
  (1914 15).
• The Categorical Table has two parts
• Notational order (e.g., .25 Diaries)
• Alphabetical order (e.g., Art .116)
• Numerical notation preceded by a dot, which is
  not a decimal (.)
• No synthesis within the Categorical Table

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Subject Classification - 6

• Categorical Table numbers added to any notation
  from the schedules, e.g.
• Economics of universities A180.760
• Universities A180 schedules
• Economics .760 Categorical Table
• Economics of musical competitions C798.760
• Musical competitions C798 schedules
• Economics .760 Categorical Table
• These synthetic notations provided more
  flexibility than any classification of its time
  (except UDC, which had the same auxiliary tables
  for synthesis it has now) (e.g., Manuel, 1907.)

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Brown and the 20th century - 1

• Two 20th century issues addressed here in
  relation to Brown
• Interdisciplinarity
• Analytico-synthetic methods and one-place
  system
• Interdisciplinarity
• Not addressed in DDC until Ed. 17, 1965
• Subject Classification provides three ways of
  combining topics in 1906.
• Brown identifiedand solvedsome of the problems
  before anyone else (except the creators of UDC)

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Brown and the 20th century - 2

• Top-down universe of knowledge classifications
  of the 19th century gave way to bottom-up
  universe of concepts systems of the 20th
  century
• (Wilson, 1972)
• Ranganathans analytico-synthetic method
  generated discussion of facet analysis and
  notational synthesis
• The CRG adopted these ideas and Mills
  incorporated them into the revision of the
  Bliss Bibliographic Classification (BBC2)

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Brown and the 20th century - 3

• Bliss Bibliographic Classification, 2nd ed.,
  (BBC2) (Mills and Broughton, 1977 - )
• Incorporates theoretical advances like facet
  analysis, retroactive notation, intra- and
  inter-class synthesis
• Introduced the idea of the Phenomenon class to a
  general bibliographic classification
• Phenomenon class
• The Phenomenon class is essentially the same as
  Browns one-place system
• Allows option of placing all documents related
  to one phenomenon in one place

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Brown and the 20th century - 4

• The Phenomenon class means a phenomenon need not
  be scattered by discipline because a literature
  can be based on. . .
• a given concept (entity, attribute, process)
  which treats it from the viewpoint of several or
  all disciplines. An example would be a work on
  the Horse, treating it from the zoological,
  equestrian, agricultural, military, artistic,
  etc. viewpoint or, a work on Colour, treating it
  from the viewpoints of optics, biology,
  photography, painting, decoration, etc. (1977,
  v.152)
• Browns work on one-place classification and on
  concrete subjects influenced these options in BBC2

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Some conclusions

• Brown has not attained the kind of reputation
  that Charles Cutter enjoys
• Nevertheless, Brown deserves study for his
  pioneering work on
• Interdisciplinarity
• Synthesized notations
• Phenomenon-based classification
• Further study of Brown may lead to comprehensive
  understanding of present classificatory issues
  and problems that 21st century classification
  research needs to solve

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References

• Baker, W. 1990. Libraries and librarians in the
  1890s a survey of the library scene 100 Years
  Ago. Library Review 39(2) 14-20.
• Brown, J.D. 1897. Classification and cataloguing.
  The Library. 9 142-156.
• Brown, J.D. 1898. Manual of library
  classification and shelf arrangement. London
  Library Supply.
• Brown, J.D. 1906. Subject classification, with
  tables, indexes, etc. for the sub-division of
  subjects. London Library Supply.
• Brown, J.D. 1914. Subject classification, with
  tables, indexes, etc., for the sub-division of
  subjects. 2nd rev. ed. London Grafton.
• Brown, J.D. 1939. Subject classification for the
  arrangement of libraries and the organization of
  information, with tables, indexes, etc., for the
  subdivision of subjects. 3rd rev. ed. J.D.
  Stewart, ed. London Grafton.
• Manuel du répertoire bibliographique universel
  organisationétat des travauxréglesclassificatio
  n decimale. 1907. Publication no. 63.
  Bruxelles Institute International de
  Bibliographie.
• Mills, J. and Broughton, V. 1977- . Bliss
  bibliographic classification. 2nd ed. London
  Butterworths.
• Wilson, T.D. 1972. The work of the British
  Classification Research Group. In H. Wellisch and
  T.D. Wilson, eds. Subject Retrieval in the
  seventies new directions, pp. 62-71. Wesport,
  CT Greenwood.

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Thank youclare.beghtol_at_utoronto.ca