THE MANAGEMENT OF A CLASSIFICATION: MODERN APPROACHES EXEMPLIFIED BY THE UDC PROJECT OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS

The author views the problem of managing a classification, such as the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), as an example of the broader class of problems known in the system analysis and data processing field as ‘file management’. The characteristics of file management are listed and related specifically to the UDC. The uses of data processing equipment for the creation, maintenance, manipulation, and display of files are discussed. The development of a prototype file management system for the UDC is reviewed.