James Duff Brown's Subject Classification and Evaluation Methods for Classification Systems

Abstract

James Duff Brown (1862-1914), an important figure in librarianship in late nineteenth and early twentieth century England, made contributions in many areas of his chosen field. His Subject Classification (SC), however, has not received much recognition for its theoretical and practical contributions to bibliographic classification theory and practice in the twentieth century. This paper discusses some of the elements of SC that both did and did not inform future bibliographic classification work, considers some contrasting evaluation methods in the light of advances in bibliographic classification theory and practice and of commentaries on SC, and suggests directions for further research.