The need for developing the basic tools
for documentation services, especially the design of depth schedules for classification,
by the various documentation centres themselves, is discussed. The work analysis and the time required for the design of depth schedule is
illustrated with a case study .
It is suggested
that it is much more helpful for the various
documentation centres to design the depth
schedules r a t h e r than to depend en one or two
research institutions .
Therefore, it is
proposed that a draft plan for library and
documentation systems should make provision
for developmental research in the field of
library and information science

Prasad, K.N.

English

Librarians' Digital Library

DRTC Seminar (11)(1974) . Paper D. 
PLANNING OP LIBRARY AND DOCUMENTATION SYSTEMS : NEED 
FOR A CELL FOR DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH IN DOCUMENTATION. 
K N PRASAD, Documentalist Central rMachine Tool 
I n s t i t u t e , Bangalore. 
The need for developing the bas ic too l s 
for documentation s e r v i c e s , e s p e c i a l l y the de -
sign of depth schedules for c l a s s i f i c a t i o n , 
by the va r ious documentation cen t r e s themselves , 
is d i scussed . The work a n a l y s i s and t h e t ime 
requi red for the des ig i of depth schedule is 
i l l u s t r a t e d with a case s tudy . I t i s suggested 
t h a t i t i s much more he lpful f o r the va r ious 
documentation cen t r e s to design the depth 
schedules r a t h e r than to depend en one or two 
research i n s t i t u t i o n s . Therefore, i t i s 
proposed t h a t a d ra f t plan f o r l i b r a r y and 
documentation sys tems should make provis ion 
f o r developmental research in the f i e l d of 
l i b r a r y a n d i n f o r m a t i o n s c i e n c e . 
0 INTRODUCTION 
01 Documentation 
Documentation is defined as a l i b r a ry ac t iv i ty , 
with emphasis on (1) Nascent idea; (2) Microsubject ; 
and (3) Specia l i s t reader (2) . The spec ia l i s t reader 
is kept aware of the l a t e s t developments in the f ie ld 
of h i s i n t e r e s t , in conformity with the prescriptions 
of the Five Laws of Library Science. In other words, 
the reader gets h i s information pinpointedly, exhaustive 
ly and expeditiously. 
52 
Need fo r Developmental Researchs Case Study D04 
02 Documentation S e r v i c e s 
Some of the v e r y common documentation s e r v i c e s , 
which a re provided i n s p e c i a l i s t l i b r a r i e s a r e (1) 
Here documentation l i s t s ; (2) A b s t r a c t s on demand or 
in a n t i c i p a t i o n ; (3) R e t r o s p e c t i v e b i b l i o g r a p h i e s ; 
and the l i k e . The e f f i c i e n c y of any of the documenta-
tion s e r v i c e s depends mostly upon the t echn iques used 
in t he p repa ra t ion o f t h e s e p u b l i c a t i o n s . 
03 Tools fo r t h e Documentation S e r v i c e s 
I t has now been an e s t a b l i s h e d f a c t t h a t every 
documentation system should have a foo lproof but h i g h l y 
f l ex ib l e s t r u c t u r e , i n o r d e r t o d e l i v e r in format ion 
serv ice to the b e s t advan tages of t h e r e a d e r s . To 
infuse p r o d u c t i v i t y i n t o the sys tem, c e r t a i n b a s i c 
too l s such as c l a s s i f i c a t i o n and c a t a l o g u i n g a r e very es-
s e n t i a l . So t h e l i b r a r i a n s and d o c u m e n t a l i s t s a r e 
engaged in promoting developmental r e s e a r c h on t h e s e 
t o o l s , because a l l t h e schemes of c l a s s i f i c a t i o n or 
cataloguing code3 a r e n o t capab le enough to be adopted 
to any environment p re sen ted by each n a t i o n a l / l o c a l 
documentation c e n t r e . 
04 C l a s s i f i c a t i o n 
The scheme f o r c l a s s i f i c a t i o n adopted should 
have the fo l lowing f e a t u r e s : 
1 Recognizing the new i d e a s as fo rming components 
o f d i f f e r e n t v a r i e t i e s o f s u b j e c t s ; 
2 Determining t h e i n t e r - r e l a t i o n between or among 
the components of t h e d i f f e r e n t v a r i e t i e s of s u b j e c t s , 
and a r ranging them in a sequence r e v e a l i n g t h e n a t u r o 
o f t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e i n t e r - r e l a t i o n s ; 
53 
D04 Prasad 
3 Ranking appropriately the respective components 
of the subjects among the existing ones (1 ) ; and 
4 Reducing the search range within a par t icu la r 
subject and lead a reader precisely to h is area(s) 
of in te res t in the subject. 
The inadequacy of a scheme is always exposed at 
the time of a c r i s i s . Multi-dimensional growth of 
l i t e r a t u r e has been shown to be the main cause for 
the breakdown of many a scheme for c lass i f i ca t ion . 
Unless there is a bu i l t - in mechanism which can faci-
l i t a t e the accommodation of any number of new ideas 
without i t s e l f being broken down, there is always 
the danger of a f a t a l dismissal of the scheno from 
use. This would speak on cany other factors includ-
ing the economics of the documentation system which 
has adopted such a scheme. 
05 Development of the Scheme for Classif icat ion 
In addition to having a bu i l t - in mechanism which 
prevents the breakdown or the f a i l u r e , it should also 
have a mechanism for the development of the system 
and to maintain the f i tness of the sane. Expericnce 
has shown that unless a documentation centre develops 
such techniques and devices so as to have control 
over the information it proposes to process, there 
is always the danger of facing a breakdown in the 
system. It is also known that no scheme for c l a s s i -
f icat ion is complete by i t s e l f , which means that it 
cannot, as it i s , at any time taken to be f inal and 
applied for classifying documents. Knowledge, as 
has already been s t a t ed , is ever growing and a 
dynamic continuum. Only such schemes which cope up 
54 
Need for Developmental research : Case Study D07 
with t h i s r a t e of growth, end which can accommodate 
the new i s o l a t e s cropping up in t h e i r r i g h t p l a c e s , 
can be adopted for processing the information. Colon 
Class i f icat ion is a good example for such a type of 
scheme. 
06 Meed for Research in the r e s ign of Depth 
Schedule 
Documentation research in I n d i a today/mainly is 
conducted by the Documentation Research and Training 
Centre (Indian S t a t i s t i c a l I n s t i t u t e ) , Bangalore and 
a few Library Science departments in some of the 
un ive r s i t i e s . I t i s obvious t h a t i t i s n o t poss ib le 
for one or two such i n s t i t u t i o n s to conduct research 
and develop schemes for c l a s s i f i c a t i o n fo r va r ied 
branches of knowledge. Every documentation unit of 
different research organisa t ions should become documen-
tation research cen t r e s a l s o . The r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of a 
documentation u n i t does not end j u s t by providing the 
documentation se rv ices to i t s c l i e n t e l e , but a l so 
l i e s with the development of tools and techniques for 
providing such s e r v i c e s . Such techniques amongst 
others include the design of depth vers ions of c l a s s i -
fication schemes. The documentation un i t s of 
research i n s t i t u t i o n s can ac t as l a b o r a t o r i e s for 
designing and developing depth vers ions of c l a s s i -
f icat ion schemes. 
07 Research Ce l l 
Therefore, i t is very much e s s e n t i a l fo r a 
documentation u n i t of a research i n s t i t u t i o n to plan 
and c rea te a "research c e l l " , whose r e s p o n s i b i l i t y 
would be amongst o t h e r s , to design and develop depth 
55 
D07 Prasad 
ve r s ions o f c l a s s i f i c a t i o n for subjects o f i t s i n t e -
r e s t . I t i s important that they should do t h i s type 
of research a c t i v i t y because i t is they who f e e l the 
pulse of the r e a d e r s , and they have a much b e t t e r 
con t ro l over the l i t e r a t u r e than the one or two re-
search (documentation) c e n t r e s , where b a s i c a l l y funda-
EPntal research can be conducted. Ins tead of the 
"They supply, we apply" p r i n c i p l e , "We demand, we sup-
ply , we apply" should be encouraged. 
The documentation c e n t r e which promotes t h e 
formation of such a c e l l s h a l l decide in consu l ta t ion 
with the DRTC or my such cen t re , sub jec t s fo r which 
i t should design depth schedules or develop those 
which a r e already a v a i l a b l e . 
03 Development Plan 
Thus, i t becomes evident t h a t while developing 
any plan fo r a n a t i o n a l , r e g i o n a l / l o c a l documentation 
c e n t r e , provision should be made for a design c e l l 
f o r developmental research in var ious t o o l s and 
techniques fo r documentation. In p a r t i c u l a r , as 
t he re is an ever increas ing demand on c l a s s i f i c a t i o n 
s y s t e m for docuseatat ion purpose, i t becomes e s s e n t i a l 
to keep a group of profess ionals to i n t e r a c t with new 
developments in the sub j ec t - f i e l d as wel l as t h e 
l a t e s t developments in the f i e l d o f l i b r a r y c l a s s i -
f i c a t i o n . In f a c t , in the Nat ional Information and 
Documentation Centre for Machine Tools and Production 
Engineering, a provision f o r research c e l l in Docu-
mentation has been proposed. 
1 SCOPE OP PAPER 
The purpose of t h i s paper is to demonstrate t h e 
p r a c t i c a b i l i t y of designing depth c l a s s i f i c a t i o n ve r -
56 
Need fo r Developmental Research: Case Study D21 
sions of Colon Classif icat ion for various subjects in 
a National Documentation Centre without get t ing into 
conflict with the routine work of providing var ie t i e s 
of documentation services . In order to show a quanti-
tative analysis , a work and time analysis has been 
cade by actually preparing a depth version of CC for 
compound subjects going with the Host Subject "Grind-
ing Machine Production" as an i l l u s t r a t i o n . 
11 Boundary Conditions 
The following are the main boundary conditions 
within which the designing work can be done: 
1 Knowledge of the methodology of designing a 
ceoth schedule for c lass i f i ca t ion ; and 
2 Knowledge of principles and processes of the 
theory of l ibrary c lass i f ica t ion ; 
2 PROCEDURE ADOPTED FOR DESIGN; 
20 Steps 
The major steps which are involved in the design 
of a depth schedule are: 
1 Selection of the subject; 
2 Literature survey; 
3 Choice of i so la tes ; 
4 Identif icat ion of Quasi Isola tes and determi.-
nation of the i r sequence; 
5 Arrangement of speciators ; 
6 Preparation of the index; 
7 Examples for tes t ing the schedule; and 
8 Preparation of an alphabetical subject index. 
21 Selection of Subject 
The documentation service that is being given 
in an organisation wi l l provide a clue in the choice 
57 
D21 Prasad 
of the subjects tha t need to be given preference in 
designing the depth schedules. Consultation wi th the 
other members of the l ib ra ry staff (or of the docu-
mentation research c e i l ) would also help in se lec t ing 
the subjec ts . This work of se lect ion may not t ake 
much t ime, provided a decision has already been taken 
to s t a r t with a project of designing depth schedules. 
22 Literature Survey 
The preliminary survey involves the finding or 
se lec t ion of the pe r iod ica l s , trade catalogues and 
the l i k e , which deal with the subject se lected for the 
purpose of designing a schedule. This is important 
because it is these we selected documents which 
would aid in ge t t ing the i s o l a t e s for enume-
ra t ion in the schedules. These documents are scanned 
through and en t r i e s prepared for those a r t i c l e s which 
provide us wi th i s o l a t e s . The t i t l e s are made fu l ly 
expressive and wri t ten on seperate s l i p s . 
23 Choice of l s o l a t e s 
Wi th the en t r ies prepared from an asserted var ie ty 
of documents, i so la tes are picked up end wr i t ten in 
seperate s l i p s mentioning the appropriate fundamental 
categories to which they belong. Contextual meanings 
are wri t ten for those i s o l a t e s which would give 
di f ferent meaiings in d i f ferent contexts . I t may a l so 
be essent ia l to wri te the meanings of synonymous words, 
6ince it would f a c i l i t a t e in the arrangement of the 
i s o l a t e s . 
24 Arrangement 
Iden t i f i ca t ion of Quasi I so l a t e s and determination 
58 
Need fo r developmental Research: Case Study D3 
of t h e i r sequence, and arrangement of s p e c i a t o r c wi th-
in the d i f f e r e n t Quas i I s o l a t e s and ass ignment of 
nota t ion is the nex t s t e p to be fo l lowed. This would 
requi re a f a i r l y good knowledge of the theory of 
l i b r a ry c l a s s i f i c a t i o n and a l i t t l e p r a c t i c e in the 
design and development of depth s c h e d u l e s . 
25 Wri t ing t h e Schedule 
After f i n a l i z i n g t he arrangement of the Quasi 
I s o l a t e s and Spec i a to r s and a s s ign ing s u i t a b l e no t a -
t ion, the schedule has to be n e a t l y w r i t t e n in the 
eeauence of i n c r e a s i n g o r d i n a l va lue of n o t a t i o n in 
each of t h e d i f f e r e n t schedules designed fo r i h e 
c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of s u b j e c t s . 
26 Prepara t ion of Index 
This involves t h e fo l lowing types of work: 
1 W r i t i n g te rms in t h e s chedu le , with a b b r e v i a t i o n s 
of t h e i r a p p r o p r i a t e fundamental c a t e g o r i e s , on sepa-
rate s l i p s of paper; 
2 Alphabe t i za t ion ; snd 
3 Writ ing the index s e p a r a t e l y . 
27 Examples f o r Tes t ing the Schedule 
A s e l e c t number of e n t r i e s — an assortment — 
are to be c l a s s i f i e d . An a l p h a b e t i c a l sub jec t index 
has to be prepared accord ing to Chain Indexing fo r the 
examples. 
3 CASE STUDY 
The fo l lowing t a b l e i l l u s t r a t e s the work and 
tine ana lys i s for t he design of a depth schedule f o r 
the compound s u b j e c t s going with the Host Subject 
"Grinding Machine P roduc t ion" . 
59 
D3 Prasad 
SN Nature of Work Quantity of work Time taken 
1 Selection of subject 
2 Identification of subject 
to be covered 
3 literature survey 
Scanning and selection 
Entry preparation 
Writing isolates on 
slips (Average: 7 iso-
lates per entry) 
3 days 
(9 hrs) 
15 days (30 hrs) 
250 trade cata- 15 hrs 
logues + 30 
periodicals 
100 articles & 3.5 min/ 
250 trade cata- item 
logues 
-do-
2500 from 
350 entries 
7 Identification of Quasi 255 (QI) 
Isolates and determi-
nation of their sequence 
8 Assignment of sectors 
(Notation) 
9 Arrangement of speciators 1200 specia-
(including arrangement tors under 
of organs of removes 1 255 (QI) 
and 2) 
10 Assignment of rotation 
(including assignment 
of notation for organs 
of removes 1 and 2) 
11 Writing the schedule 
12 Preparrtion of slips 1500 
13 Alphabetization 
14 Writing 
15 Classification 20 entries 
16 Alphabetical subject index 
5 nin/ 
entry 
5 min/ 
entry 
28 hrs 
3 hrs 
18 hrs 
4 hrs 
4 hrs 
10 hrs 
6 hrs 
4 hrs 
5 hrs 
8 hrs 
Need fo r Developmental Resea rch : Case Study DA 
SN Mature of Fort Quantity 
of work ' 
Tine 
taken 
17 Alphabe t i sa t ion .. 30 min 
13 Wri t ing . . 6 bra 
19 P ina l checking for minor 
c o r r e c t i o n s 1 hr 
Total? Apprcx 255 hrs 
4 ANNOTATION 
1 The time taken f o r i d e n t i f y i n g t he coverage 
may be minimised, provided the person who designs t he 
schedule , has some p r i o r knowledge of the s u b j e c t . 
2 I d e n t i f y i n g t he Quasi I s o l a t e s , de termining 
t h e i r sequence, a r rang ing s p e c t a t o r s end a s s i p i i r g 
n o t a t i o n — the t ime taken f o r a l l t hese may look 
cons iderably low. The reason f o r t h i s may be due t o : 
(a) Considerable knowledge in d e s i r i n g depth 
schedules ; 
(b) Knowledge of t he theory and p r a c t i c e of 
l i b r a r y c l a s s i f i c a t i o n ; and 
(c) A v a i l a b i l i t y of a depth schedule or. almost 
a s i m i l a r sub jec t — Gopinath (M A) . Lathe p roduc-
t ion * Depth c l a s s i f i c a t i o n ve r s ion of CC (Lib so 
3; 1971; Paper K) . 
3 Time taken f o r the index p r e p a r a t i o n for 
j u s t 20 examples nay look too much. The reason for 
t h i s i s t h a t the type of indexing adopted was t h e 
Key Word and Context (= KWAC), a v e r s i o n of chain 
indexing and because the p r e p a r a t i o n was done manually. 
4 The time taken fo r c o n s u l t a t i o n wi th the 
experts regarding the i s o l a t e s s e l e c t e d and t h e i r 
61 
D4 Prasad 
arrangements couldn't be quantified as it was spread 
throughout the course of the preparation of the 
schedule. 
5 Since the s t ruc ture of nascent subject is 
frequently l i ab le to change on account of developments 
in the wave front of tha t subject , the c l a s s i f i ca t ion 
system used for any documentation service w i l l have 
to be kept up- to-date . This is a continuous process . 
The u se r ' s in te rac t ion over the same is also to be 
kept in view. This process cannot be quantified end 
therefore , the time factor cannot be determined. 
5 CONCLUSION 
It has been shown that the t o t a l time needed for 
designig depth schedule by a professional documentalist 
on Job is only 235 hours. The work cannot be counted 
as a day-to-day a f f a i r . It may be spread over months. 
But continuity has to be maintained. By th i s process, 
several manhours can be saved, as otherwise the work 
of a documentalist in a service centre gets stranded 
many a time for want of a schedule. Further, the 
centres which are solely responsible for developing 
schedules may not give p r i o r i t y for the subjects for 
which a local documentation centre needs a schedule. 
They may, on the other hand, extend active p a r t i c i -
pation and cooperation with the pa r t i cu la r documen-
ta t ion centre in designing the much needed schedules. 
Besides t h i s , the designing of depth schedules in a 
service l ib ra ry provides enough scope for the con t i -
nuing education of documentalists . Therefore, i t is 
suggested that a draf t plan for the establishment or 
development of l ib ra ry and documentation systems shoulc 
provide for a c e l l for developmental research in the 
62 
Need for Developmental Research: Case Study D7 
field of l ib ra ry science and documentation. 
I an indebted to Shri S S e e t h a r a m a and Shri M A 
Gopinath of DRTC for the i r valuable guifcice in the 
preparation of t h i s paper. I am also thankful to-
Shri Abdul Rahman, Documentation Officer, Central 
Machine Tool I n s t i t u t e , Bangalore, for h is valuable 
suggestions and for permitting me to present th i s paper 
for the seminar. 
7 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES 
1 Sec 04, BHATTACHARYYA (G). Towards an integrated 
theory of notat ional language. (Lib s c . 
10; 1973; Paper U). 
2 Sec 01 RANGANATHAN (S R). What of documentation. 
(In Ranganathan (S R), Ed. Documenta-
tiOB and i t s f ace t s . 1963. Chap B2). 
63 


Planning of Library and Documentation Systems : need for a cell for developmental research in documentation

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Planning of Library and Documentation Systems : need for a cell for developmental research in documentation

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