on this page is an extract from the project deliverable D4
- Classification structure and data model
| citation order | filing
order | notation |syntax
FAT-HUM classification system consists of the following parts:
- broad knowledge classification
- classification of humanities
- common auxiliaries (generally applicable concepts)
- provision for further specification with alphabetical
extension and /or data from some external system
(e.g. periodical table, geographical data, postal codes etc.)
Broad knowledge classification represents
a sequence of sciences, disciplines and fields of knowledge according
to the the theory of 'integrative levels' (see outline).
Classification of humanities comprises
the following subject fields/disciplines: Philosophy,
History, Religion, Languages (Philology), Literature and the Arts.
These fields remain in their logical place in the classification
of knowledge and are planned to be developed incrementally. Within
the FATKS project the facet analysis is tested on Religion and Visual
Arts and vocabulary in the range of 2700 concepts will be available
for this two areas (2200 Religion and around 500 for Visual Art).
Generally applicable concepts can
be used in any discipline. Keeping them in separate, common auxiliary
facets is the usual approach in every modern, faceted classification.
These facets contain classification of processes, properties, material,
perso, time, ethnic (races), place, form, and language.
Whenever this may be relevant the
concepts are linked across all three section of classification vocabulary
with 'see also' references creating a type of a semantic network
that links the whole of knowledge with humanities and both of these
with the common auxiliaries. This type of associative relationship
includes: whole-part associative relationships, disciplines and
objects or phenomena, an occupation and a person in that occupation,
an action and the product of that action, an action and its patient,
concepts and their properties, concepts and their origins, causal
dependence, a thing/action and its counter-agent, raw material and
its product, an action and a property associated with it, a concept
and its opposites.
inner classification structure
FAT-HUM is a faceted classification
developed by organizing concepts of a specific field of knowledge
according to the following fundamental concept categories (facets)
Thing - Kind - Part - Property - Material
- Process - Operation - Patient - Product - Byproduct- Agent - Place
The order of facets in the discipline
When using facet analysis for organizing
concepts within one field of knowledge, a classificationist needs
to make the appropriate choice of facets. Humanities are very specific
in the way they treat subjects, and their form of presentation.
The facets of products, by product and material, for instance, may
be less relevant for humanities while some others need to be
introduced, such as 'theory and philosophy'. Literature will, for
instance need a facet of 'literary genres' . In religion, for instance,
the following 9 facets are identified to be suitable:
Thing (entity) - i.e. the main facet
of Religions. Faiths
Theory and philosophy of Religion
To achieve presentation of knowledge
from general to specific, classification will list these facets
in the reversed order i.e. in the sequence of 'increasing concreteness'
(see Religion outline).
This 'inner' structure of the classification
is built in and supported by the notation and system syntax. Knowledge
of the facet analytical method is paramount for those designing
and creating the classification. The end user or cataloguer, however,
need not know the theory of facet analysis. The application of the
classification is mechanized by notation and
syntax rules and the process of indexing consists of choosing and
The sequence of facets in a combined
class symbol is not accidental. The order is called a 'citation
order' (facet formula) and it cites subject attributes in the
sequence of 'decreasing concreteness'.
Compare examples. If a compound number
contains common auxiliaries these are normally cited after facets
of disciplines in the order: processes, properties, materials,
persons, time, ethnic, place,
linear order of facets
a) Combining concepts within the same
it belongs to
||Marriage and Family
||Abstinence in marriage
b) Combining concepts between facets
it belongs to
||Marriage and Family
||Niddah. Abstinence in marriage
Facet it belongs to
central figure of the faith
Subfacet: Persons as agents
and Philosophy. Subfacet of God.
of the three bodies
Facet it belongs to
Religion and faiths
||Fasting in Christianity
Comment: The facets are cited in
the reverse order (decreasing concreteness). What is typical for
humanities is a compound often takes the form of a new concept.
And this is one of the hardest problems in terms of data management
of a faceted classification in humanities. The FATHUM database
tool deals with this by preserving inheritance. Each combined
facet notational symbol inherits the meaning of a single elements
and a new meaning is added to it. In this way, when the term's
'appearance' or 'physical form' is sought it will retrieve all
the compounds in which this concept is built in.
c) Combining concepts between humanities
and common auxiliaries
it belongs to
||Autonomous Orthodox churches
auxiliary of Place
||Orthodox church in Japan
Facet it belongs to
Religion and faiths
Augury. Soothsaying. Oracles
activities. Practice. Subfacet: Ceremonies
agents, doers, practitioners
auxiliary of Persons
c) Combining concepts between different
disciplines (see also relationships)
it belongs to
|| Officers of the religion.
Priests. Ministers. Leaders
organization and administration
||Education of priests
in the broad classification of knowledge
Notation in the broad classification
of knowledge 000 -999 General knowledge categories are assigned
three digit classification numbers. Notation of the first level
of classification i.e. the list of disciplines is not expressive
in terms on hierarchy (e.g. although physics is part of natural
sciences, the notation does not express this relationship).
The reason for this is to reduce the length of the notation
on the top level. But disciplines are clustered into logical
After the level of disciplines
is established notation is decimal and expresses the hierarchical
||Electronic & electrical
in the humanities
Notation developed for FAT-HUM
is expressive in terms of hierarchies and syntax and assumes
the existence and the use of the whole fully developed classification.
If only one or several disciplines are used (e.g. only humanities)
the notation can be automatically shortened by replacing part
of discipline notation (the one assigned in the broad classification)
by a single digit or letter. E.g. instead of using 590 for starting
notation for religion, or 940 for the arts this can be replaced
single letter R or A respectively. This decision depends on
the implementation scope and policy. But as the notation is
not meant to be handled manually or displayed to the users its
length should not consider to be an obstacle.
Each discipline contains one
facet with purely numerical decimal notation (main facet) and
several facets with numerical decimal notation that start with
a capital letter. All the facets of concepts starting with letters
are listed before the main facet. The notations starting with
letters do not stand alone: they are listed linked to the class
number for which they are valid. For instance numbers starting
with A are all linked to 590 which stands for the whole class
of Religion and theology. However, each number starting
with A, C, E etc. can be taken and attached to any number in
the main facet of 5901/5909 Religions. Faiths. In some
other fields of humanities e.g. art or literature, notations
starting with A, C, E will represent facets relevant for that
particular discipline and can be used to build compound concepts
in that discipline only. This is why numbers starting with A,
C, E can be identified only when placed with the number of the
discipline they belong to.
590 Religion. Theology
590A Theory and philosophy
590C History of the faith,
religion, denomination or church
590E Agents in religion
(persons and objects)
590H Recipients of pastoral
care. Social types and groups
590J Religious activities.
590K Processes in religion
590M Religions characterised
by various properties
590N Religious organization
5901/5909 Religions. Faiths
Combination of facets:
590A3 The Holy.
The sacred. The supernatural. Object(s) of religion/worship
59033A3 The Holy. Brahma. Absolute
5906A3 Kedushah. The Holy. The
Hinduism and Judaism belong to
the main facets of Religions. Faiths (5901/5909) and
have no letter preceding them. A3
is concept coming from the facet A
Theory and philosophy of religion that freely combines
with any religion.
5907N Christian religious organization
5907N6 Christian missions
5907 belongs to the main facets of Religions.
Faiths, N6 is the belongs to the
Religious organization and administration in the class 590 Religion
and theology. (K01) represents
a concept from common auxiliary tables for persons which means
'doer or person performing
The main purpose of facet analysis is to organize
concepts in a way that they can be combined among themselves
to produce compound concepts or a pre-coordinated index. Single
concepts listed in facets may be used alone or combined by a
cataloguer in the process of indexing or, indeed, compound terms
may be already offered in the classification schedules to save
the cataloguer's time. Classification for religion, for instance,
offers a substantial number of already compound terms that serve
to show the principle of synthesis. Some of the main religions
and faiths are therefore expanded, using concepts from A,C,
E, J etc. facets. The other religions may be expanded in a similar
way. The objective of classification is to offer basic building
blocks and the level of details is up to those who are going
to use the classification.
in the facets of common auxiliaries
Notation of common auxiliaries is made clearly
distinct from any classification number in the schedules of
disciplines or any of the fundamental facets used within disciplines.
Common auxiliaries are always enclosed in brackets. Unlike the
facet notation in the disciplines, common auxiliary numbers
always mean the same thing, no matter where they are applied.
Because of this common auxiliaries can be easily retrieved and
managed and have great value in collection management and resource
(M16) Properties of order (sequence, priority)
(M161) Basic. Fundamental
(M162) Principal. Main. Dominant. Primary
(M1632) Supplementary. Additional
(M1633) Subsidiary. Ancillary. Accessory. Auxiliary.
(M1634) Peripheral. Marginal
(M1635) Substitute. Replacement. Ersatz
(M164) Initial. First. Leading
Within common auxiliary facets there are also subfacets that
may be used for further
combination within the same facet of common auxiliaries, e.g.
in the facet of languages (A)
(A-01) Old period. Archaic period
(A-02) Classical period
(A-04) Middle period
(A-06) Modern period
(A-08) Revived language
(A-09) Dialects. Local and regional language
Numbers from -01 to -09 can be combined to
express the period of any language e.g.
(A111-04) Middle English
(A1311-09) Italian dialects
In the facet of common auxiliaries of Form
(B-2) Documents according to physical, external
(B-3) documents according to method of production
(B-32) Handwritten documents
(B-33) Typescripts. Printouts
(B-34) Machine-readable documents
(B-35) Copies. Reproductions.
(B-36) Printed documents
(B-38) Multi-part, multivolume works
(B-4) documents according to stage of production
(B-5) documents for particular kinds of user
(B-6) documents according to level of presentation
(B492) Polemics. Disputations.
Justifications. Vindications. Rejoinders. Apologias
(B493) Declarations of opinion
(B4932) Critical reviews
(B494) Petitions. Requests. Applications
(B495) Questionnaires. Inquiries.
Questionnaires (in machine-readable form)
The intelligence and logic behind the system
of common auxiliaries in FATHUM is taken from the UDC classification
which is the only classification system that has fully exploited
the advantage of having facet indicators in the notation of
both the classification of disciplines and common auxiliaries
and is today the only fully analytico-synthetic system among
the big bibliographic classifications. The notational apparatus
introduced in the FAT-HUM can be further improved and developed
to facilitate information retrieval.
Two or more subjects can be studied/presented
in a number of relationships. Every analytico-synthetic system provides
for a number of these. It is optional for a cataloguer to establish
and code these relationships but a number of them may prove useful
in information retrieval. The following 'relators' represent an
initial thinking based on UDC set of relationships and relators
suggested by J.M. Perrault in 1969. Further in the process of system
development and implementation this may be changed, extended or
|Type of relationship
in addition to Religion'
|| 420/590 'the
field of subjects spanning from education to religion'
and education in coordinate (reciprocal) relationships'
||590 = 420
'Comparison between religion and education'
'the influence of religion on education'
'Religion for educational purposes'
as viewed by education'
'Education as part of Religion'
Apart from the sequence of facets
that is built into the classification system it is necessary to
establish general rules for filing combined notations that contain
one of the relationships symbols. This rule ensures that any display
of knowledge respects the order of general-to-specific. FATHUM filing
is as follows
of classified documents
||Religion and Art
everything from religion to occultism
religion and education
religion and education
||Influence of religion
||Religion for educational
||The type of religion
needed in education
||Religion as a part
in English language
||Religion in UK
English speaking peoples
||Religion in prehistoric
||History of faith
||Religion of homeless
||Food and diet in
||Religion and society
||Authority of the