The evolution of classification systems: Ontogeny of the UDC

TL;DR

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), highlighting its stability, major evolutions driven by scientific progress, and increasing complexity in auxiliaries over time.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive ontogenetic analysis of UDC's development, presenting an alternative to existing scheme-versioning methods.

Findings

Main classes remained stable over time

Major changes aligned with scientific developments

Auxiliaries increased significantly in complexity

Abstract

To classify is to put things in meaningful groups, but the criteria for doing so can be problematic. Study of evolution of classification includes ontogenetic analysis of change in classification over time. We present an empirical analysis of the UDC over the entire period of its development. We demonstrate stability in main classes, with major change driven by 20th century scientific developments. But we also demonstrate a vast increase in the complexity of auxiliaries. This study illustrates an alternative to Tennis' "scheme-versioning" method.