Prolegomena to Library Classification
S. R. RanganathanThe ideas contained in this book form the foundation of subject classification and the book is S.R. Ranganathan s magnum opus in that field. A most precise, theoretical, practical, and comparative exposition of library classification theory ... intensely original. It is not within my space here to say in what ways it over-rode many of the obstacles to real understanding of the art of analyzing and assembling books; that the student will discover by the rewarding study of the book itself (In Preface to edition 2 by W.C. Berwick Sayers). In the present digital age, Ranganathan s ideas on subject classification provide guidelines for the organization of knowledge in whatever medium, including digital, audio, video forms and the www, that knowledge may be embodied . ... in homage to Ranganathan, I believe he, more than any other scholar of our discipline, has striven to establish classification upon a scientific foundation. (Dr. Elaine Svenonius, former Professor, UCLA, in Libri, v.42, No. 3 (1992); p. 176)