Resources - Book review - Classification brought to book. The core skill of classification is vital for information professionals, and Jonathan Gordon-Till finds it's a subject that can be very valuable when space allows.(Essential Classification)(Brief Article)(Book Review)

Despite its dry title, and still drier subject matter, Essential Classification manages to whet the appetite for the essential information management task. Author, Vanda Broughton, has spiced up the copy with amusing examples and case studies.

The author entertains the reader through the salient varieties of classification, including Linnaeian taxonomy and folk classification, and provides pertinent examples. Types of classification structure (for example, enumerative, analytico-synthetic and faceted) are clearly summarised and provide an ideal introduction for the non-expert.

The majority of the book covers the more practical issues, but it is from these chapters that the nascent cataloguer will gain most. Content analysis, especially "aboutness" and dealing with "subjectiveness", are described with plenty of examples of problem areas, like the big problem of whether to classify Leonardo da Vinci under painters, sculptors, scientists, art ...