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Faceted classification and logical division in information retrieval
Library Trends, Wntr, 2004 by Jack Mills
The inverted schedule. To observe general before special necessitates a design feature usually referred to as the inverted schedule; we use the layout of the printed schedule here to demonstrate the problem because all librarians are familiar with the situation whereby the classification is laid out in schedules before it is translated into the linear order of classes manifested on the library shelves and in the classified subject catalog. For example, in a medical classification the first-cited facet (Kinds of persons) files last; the second-cited facet (Parts of the body) files next to last, and so on. As a result, a work on the skeletal system of old persons would file not only after old persons in general, but also after the class Skeletal systems in general. If the schedule were not inverted, the special would file before the general.
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9.3. Filing order of arrays
In the filing order of the arrays within each facet, the situation is exactly analogous to the filing order of facets; the arrays file in an order that is the reverse of their citation order, e.g., in the Building technology class, the first-cited array is the array (By function) and it files last; the second-cited array (By attachment) files next to last, and so on.
9. 4. Filing order within arrays
This is another problem, quite distinct from the filing order of the arrays (as blocks of classes) themselves. An array results from the application of a characteristic of division so precise that its subclasses are mutually exclusive; so it does not contain compound classes and the problem of general before special doesn't arise. Numerous helpful orders in array have been identified: operations are often given in order of performance (e.g., preparation of soil, sowing, protection of crop ...); this is really a special example of chronological order, which is a major feature in many classes in the Humanities; geographical (contiguity) order is also a major one in many arrays besides its role in the filing order in the Place facet. For some arrays, no obvious systematic order of its classes is applicable, and these are arranged alphabetically.
10. NOTATION
This assigns to each and every class in the system a symbol (classmark) that possesses or is given an ordinal value; this locates any class mechanically, without the user having to know its hierarchical position. Although this has nothing whatsoever to do with the problems of concept analysis and knowledge organization per se, it is an essential feature of a library classification. Moreover, numerous misconceptions tend to persist that impede the understanding of the conceptual arrangement. So the problems of notation are considered here in more detail than would otherwise be justified.
10.1. Functions of notation
Notation may be defined as a system of ordinal symbols that mechanizes the order of classes in a bibliographical or other linear classification. For example: SL9 H is the classmark in BC2 for the subject Appellate proceedings in common law systems. Assuming that users know the ordinal sequences A/Z and 1/9, the only rule they need to know is that in BC2 a number files before a letter. They can then locate the class exactly in the largest of law collections and can do this mechanically, without knowing the conceptual hierarchy in which the class occurs; in the example above, this is
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