BSI British Standards Institution Universal Decimal Classification. Abridged Edition (PD 1000:2003) Ring bound

Universal decimal classification. Abridged edition (PD 1000:2003) This simplified edition of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) contains approximately 4,100 classes and incorporates major changes to the scheme since 1999. The UDC Abridged edition replaces the Pocket Edition and has been abridged from the material in the official UDC database, the Master Reference File. It takes account of official amendments, up to and including those in Extensions and Corrections to the UDC, Number 24, November 2002. It includes the new properties table (1k-02) and new and revised classes for management, religion, population, tourism, social welfare, environment studies, biotechnology and cinema. This abridged version of the UDC will be a useful reference for students studying UDC, as it contains a selection of the most common codes used. It is more portable and compact than the complete UDC, available in two heavy volumes. Organizing information Information is everywhere, but is not necessarily usable. It proliferates at an intimidating rate, and the problem for an information-seeker is to find what is relevant and access what is needed. Finding a way through the overwhelming volume of irrelevant material can be a challenge. There are various aids to doing this some for virtual information (website search engines e.g. Google) and some in either print or electronic form (bibliographies, catalogues, directories). They vary in effectiveness, and when relying on natural language can be limited by problems with words (did you use the right term? Are you searching in a single language? Are you missing relevant items in other languages?). Aside from sheer luck, search strategies are more effective if they can draw on information organized into patterns that correspond to the needs of most users or are at least familiar to them with related items brought together, and unrelated ones excluded in other words, information that has been classified. Even personal individual information collection work best if they are organized. For example, paper files could be kept in an order that reflects the way you normally use them. File management on a computer is a form of classification: it is simply a matter of grouping items according to their shared characteristics, e.g. the drive on which they are stored, the nature of the item (software, document, database etc) and its size, the project reference or other identifier, and the date. Multimedia items such as audio or video recordings, and collectable objects such as pictures, sculptures, coins or postage stamps are all sources of information, and their interest and informativeness is increased by systematic indexing. If you are searching among information amassed by others, it will be more useful if it is logically arranged. If you are organizing your own collections, the same principle applies. Even when choosing from retail goods (for example in a bookshop or in a supermarket) the result depends on the helpful arrangement of stock. Whatever form an item of information may take, logical organization is vital for the efficient use of the collection. Contents of the UDC Abridged Edition include: Further reading; Common auxiliary tables; Coordination. Extension; Relation; Language; Form; Place Race, ethnic grouping, nationality; Time; Notations from non-UDC sources; General characteristics (properties, materials, persons); Generalities. Science and knowledge; Organization. Information; Documentation. Librarianship; Institutions. Publications; Philosophy. Psychology; Religion. Theology; Social sciences; Statistics. Politics; Economics. Trade. Law. Government; Military affairs. Welfare; Insurance; Education. Folklore; Mathematics and natural sciences; Applied sciences. Medicine. Technology; The arts. Recreation. Entertainment. Sport; Language. Linguistics.Literature