Универсальная десятичная классификация: история и применение

Bibliographic and library classification system
The Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) is a bibliographic and library classification representing the systematic arrangement of all branches of human knowledge organized as a coherent system in which knowledge fields are related and inter linked. The UDC is an analytico synthetic and faceted classification system featuring detailed vocabulary and syntax that enables powerful content indexing and information retrieval in large collections. Since 1991, the UDC has been owned and managed by the UDC Consortium, a non profit international association of publishers with headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike other library classification schemes that started their life as national systems, the UDC was conceived and maintained as an international scheme. Its translation into other languages started at the beginning of the 20th century and has since been published in various printed editions in over 40 languages. UDC Summary, an abridged Web version of the scheme, is available in over 50 languages. Albeit originally designed as an indexing and retrieval system, due to its logical structure and scalability, UDC has become one of the most widely used knowledge organization systems in libraries, where it is used for either shelf arrangement, content indexing or both. UDC codes can describe any type of document or object to any desired level of detail. These can include textual documents and other media such as films, video and sound recordings, illustrations, maps as well as realia such as museum objects.

The UDC was developed by the Belgian bibliographers Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine at the end of the 19th century. In 1895, they created the Universal Bibliographic Repertory (Répertoire Bibliographique Universel) (RBU) which was intended to become a comprehensive classified index to all published information. The idea that the RBU should take the form of a card catalogue came from the young American zoologist Herbert Haviland Field, who was at the time himself setting up a bibliographical agency in Zurich, the Concilium Bibliographicum. A means of arranging the entries would be needed, and Otlet, having heard of the Dewey Decimal Classification, wrote to Melvil Dewey and obtained permission to translate it into French. The idea outgrew the plan of mere translation, and a number of radical innovations were made, adapting the purely enumerative classification (in which all the subjects envisaged are already listed and coded) into one which allows for synthesis (that is, the construction of compound numbers to denote interrelated subjects that could never be exhaustively foreseen); various possible relations between subjects were identified, and symbols assigned to represent them. In its first edition in French "Manuel du Répertoire bibliographique universel" (1905), the UDC already included many features that were revolutionary in the context of knowledge classifications: tables of generally applicable (aspect free) concepts—called common auxiliary tables; a series of special auxiliary tables with specific but re usable attributes in a particular field of knowledge; an expressive notational system with connecting symbols and syntax rules to enable coordination of subjects and the creation of a documentation language proper. The Universal Bibliographic Repertory itself has developed into a remarkable information resource. In the period before World War I it grew to more than eleven million records. The catalogue and its content organized by UDC can still be seen in Mundaneum in Mons, Belgium (in 2013 recommended for inclusion in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register).

UDC is an analytico synthetic and faceted classification. It allows an unlimited combination of attributes of a subject and relationships between subjects to be expressed. UDC codes from different tables can be combined to present various aspects of document content and form, e. g. 94(410)"19"(075) History (main subject) of United Kingdom (place) in 20th century (time), a textbook (document form). Or: 37:2 Relationship between Education and Religion. Complex UDC expressions can be accurately parsed into constituent elements. UDC is also a disciplinary classification covering the entire universe of knowledge. This type of classification can also be described as aspect or perspective, which means that concepts are subsumed and placed under the field in which they are studied. Thus, the same concept can appear in different fields of knowledge. This particular feature is usually implemented in UDC by re using the same concept in various combinations with the main subject, e. g. a code for language in common auxiliaries of language is used to derive numbers for ethnic grouping, individual languages in linguistics and individual literatures. Or, a code from the auxiliaries of place, e. g. (410) United Kingdom, uniquely representing the concept of United Kingdom can be used to express 911(410) Regional geography of United Kingdom and 94(410) History of United Kingdom.

Common auxiliaries are aspect free concepts that can be used in combination with any other UDC code from the main classes or with other common auxiliaries. They have unique notational representations that makes them stand out in complex expressions. Common auxiliary numbers always begin with a certain symbol known as a facet indicator, e. g. = (equal sign) always introduces concepts representing the language of a document; (0 ) numbers enclosed in parentheses starting with zero always represent a concept designating document form. Thus (075) Textbook and =111 English can be combined to express, e. g.(075)=111 Textbooks in English, and when combined with numbers from the main UDC tables they can be used as follows: 2(075)=111 Religion textbooks in English, 51(075)=111 Mathematics textbooks in English etc. = Common auxiliaries of language. Table 1c
(0 ) Common auxiliaries of form. Table 1d
(1/9) Common auxiliaries of place. Table 1e
(= ) Common auxiliaries of human ancestry, ethnic grouping and nationality. Table 1f
" " Common auxiliaries of time. Table 1g helps to make minute division of time e. g.: "1993 1996"
0 Common auxiliaries of general characteristics: Properties, Materials, Relations/Processes and Persons. Table 1k. 02 Common auxiliaries of properties. Table 1k
03 Common auxiliaries of materials. Table 1k
04 Common auxiliaries of relations, processes and operations. Table 1k
05 Common auxiliaries of persons and personal characteristics. Table 1k this table is repeated

In order to preserve the precise meaning and enable accurate parsing of complex UDC expressions, a number of connecting symbols are made available to relate and extend UDC numbers. These are:
Symbol Symbol name Meaning Example+ plus coordination, addition e. g. 59+636 zoology and animal breeding/ stroke consecutive extension e. g. 592/599 Systematic zoology (everything from 592 to 599 inclusive): colon relation e. g. 17:7 Relation of ethics to art[ ] square brackets subgrouping e. g. 311:[622+669](485) statistics of mining and metallurgy in Sweden (the auxiliary qualifiers 622+669 considered as a unit)* asterisk Introduces non UDC notation e. g. 523.4*433 Planetology, minor planet Eros (IAU authorized number after the asterisk)A/Z alphabetical extension Direct alphabetical specification e. g. 821.133.1MOL French literature, works of Molière

UDC classes in this outline are taken from the Multilingual Universal Decimal Classification Summary (UDCC Publication No. 088) released by the UDC Consortium under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 license (first release 2009, subsequent update 2012).

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