Organizing the Web
Classification Schemes
The second level of Web organization that librarians and others are undertaking is that of employing classification schemes for arranging like documents together for ease of retrieval. Traditional classification schemes that librarians have employed for years are of course the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system which is found in most public libraries, and the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) system which is widely used in academic libraries. It is classification schemes like these that allow library users to walk to the bookshelf and see books on the same subject grouped on the shelf together. Since there are no bookshelves for browsing on the Web, building classification schemes for the electronic environment is particularly important.
Examples of well-established Web directories using the DDC and the LCC classification systems for organization of Web resources include our very own Suite101 (DDC), Cyberstacks (LCC), the National Library of Canada (DDC), KidsClick! (DDC), PICK Fulltext Documents (DDC), CyberDewey (DDC, obviously), and Blue Web’n Browse (DDC).
It is interesting to compare the Web compilations that are employing standardized cataloguing techniques and classification schemes, such as The Librarians' Index to the Internet, with Web directories that are not, such as Yahoo!. Are things as easy to find? Do you come up with irrelevant hits? When you find a resource you want, is it easy or difficult to find others like it? I think it’s clear that the standardized compilations are in many ways superior and we’re on the right track.
Librarians have accomplished a lot when it comes to organizing the Web. But challenges certainly remain, not the least of which is the growing number of differing schemes and standards being employed, as illustrated here. Right now the Web is a little like a library using the DDC in one corner, the LCC in another, assigning LCSH to part of the collection and meta tags to another . . . At some point there needs to ‘standardization of the standards’. But in the meantime, it sure is interesting to watch what will develop, and it's an exciting time to be a librarian.
Further Reading . . .
Gerry McKiernan of Iowa State University Library has assembled an exhaustive list of organizations that have adopted particular classification schemes for Web resources at Beyond Bookmarks: Schemes for Organizing the Web.
Casting the Net: The Development of a Resource Collection for an Internet Database,
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