The art and science of classification:

1
The art and science of classification

• Phyllis Allen Richmond

Kathryn La Barre, Indiana University Pioneering
Women in Information Science. SIG-HFIS 10-18-03
2
Honors

• 1942 BA Phi Beta Kappa , Mather College, WRU
• 1943 Graduate scholar at Bryn Mawr College.
• 1947-48 Fellow, Cornell University, American
  Council of Learned Societies.
• 1948-1949 Bennett fellow, University of
  Pennsylvania
• 1966 Editorial board JASIS
• 1968 Technical Referee award, ADI
• 1971 Assistant editor for cataloging and
  classification, LRTS
• 1972 ASIST award of merit
• 1977 Margaret Mann Citation-ALA-LRTS
  Association
• 1977 Consulting editor, International
  Classification
• 1977-78 Fellowship from Council on Library
  Resources (CRL)
• to study PRECIS in England.
• 1984 Professor Emerita.

3
Early years

• 1921 Born in Boston. Raised in Rochester NY
• 1942 BA, History Phi Beta Kappa , Mather
  College, WRU
• 1943 Graduate scholar at Bryn Mawr College.
• 1943-45/ 46-47 Curator, Rochester Museum of Arts
  and Sciences
• 1946 A.M. Graduate Scholar
• University of Pennsylvania, History of
  Science
• 1947-48 Fellow, Council of Learned Societies,
• Cornell University.
• 1948-1949 Bennett fellow, University of
  Pennsylvania
• 1949 Ph.D. History of Science and Medicine,
  Mather CWU.
• Americans and the Germ Theory of Disease.
• 1952 Research Assistant to the director at
  Johns Hopkins Institute for the History of
  Medicine

4

• And so in conclusion, may I suggest that we
  borrow the motto of the Royal Society of London
  Nullius in verba nothing in words.
• (Or interpreting seventeenth parlance into
  twentieth century idiom. Dont tell me how
  systems function show me.)
• Mr. Deweys classification, Mr. Cutters catalog
  and Dr. Hitchcocks chickens. Library Resources
  and Technical Services 21 (2) 115. (1977).

5
History and Philosophy of Science

• American attitudes toward the germ theory of
  disease. Journal of the History of Medicine. 9
  428-454. (1954).
• Tomes, N. J. (1997). Phyllis Allen Revisited.
• Journal of the History of Medicine and
  Allied Sciences. 52(1) 17-50.

6
LIS education and experience

• 1955-1968 University of Rochester Libraries
• 1956 MLS Western Reserve University.
• 1955-60 University of Rochester
• serials cataloger
• 1961-66 Supervisor, Science Libraries, River
  campus University of Rochester.
• 1960-68 Supervisor - automation of book
  catalogs at the Science Libraries,
  University of Rochester
• 1966-68 Information systems specialist,
  University of Rochester

7
Teaching

• 1966 Visiting professor at Western Reserve
  University
• 1969 Visiting professor at Syracuse
  University
• 1970-84 Professor of Library and information
  science CWRU
• 1986 Visiting Professor, Columbia University

8
Leadership

• 1959 Founder of the Classification Research
  Study Group (CRSG) with Pauline Atherton
  Cochrane
• 1959 Chair ADI Classification Research
  Committee
• 1966 Editorial board JASIS
• 1979 Acting dean, School of Library Science,
  CWRU
• 1982-83 Acting Dean, SLS, CWRU
• 1983-84 Dean School of Library Science Case
  Western Reserve University

9
Bridging

• This seems to be a stage in which the approach to
  education has become very practical. A person
  needs literature, philosophy, psychology, not
  just what is required to earn a living. You need
  those things to make you a human being.
• From Mather 42 to Dean 83. Reserve. Fall
  1983. CWRUA 7PI Richmond.

10
Classification Research Study Group

• 1959 co-founder with Pauline Atherton Cochrane
• informally organized with an open program and no
  visible means of support
• Richmond. P. (1969). Classification Research
  Study Group. A. Kent, O. Williams (Eds.)
  Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science.
  (Volume 5 p. 145). New York Dekker.
• La Barre, K. (in press). Weaving webs of
  significance The Classification Research Study
  Group in the United States and Canada. In
  Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference on
  the History and Heritage of Scientific and
  Technical Information Systems. Information Today.
  http//ella.slis.indiana.edu/klabarre/hhstis2_LaB
  arre.doc

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Other concerns

• Faceted Classification
• Met Ranganathan at WRU in 1959 when he visited
  WRU.
• Close association with the Comparative Systems
  Laboratory, Jessica Melton
• Library of Congress
• Organized several conferences at the height of
  reclassification.
• Accounting limitations, suggestions for
  improvement.

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The art of classification

• It is the job of classification to show the
  waxing and waning of ideals as well as ideas,
  since the spirit of the times, its Zeitgeist,
  adds dimension to any aspect of the sum total of
  human knowledge.
• The future of generalized systems of
  classification. College and Research Libraries
  24(5) 396. (1963).

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(No Transcript)
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Antiques
Time
Kinds
Space
Constituents
Makers
Materials
Action
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Visual Thesaurus http//www.visualthesaurus.com
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The science of classification

• The universe in which we live is apparently open
  and genuinely infinite, both infinitely big and
  infinitely small. Data, laws, methods, theories
  in all fields are partially and imperfectly
  known. On one hand, the possibility of discovery
  seems unending. On the other hand the use of
  creative imagination appears limitless.
• The future of generalized systems of
  classification. College and Research Libraries
  24(5) 396. (1963).

17
References

• Cochrane, P. A. (1998). Phyllis Allen Richmond
  Award of Merit Winner Dies at 76, Journal of the
  American Society for Information Science 49(14)
  1246 1248. Also unpublished pre-publication
  manuscript.
• Grady, H., Wheeler, W. (undated manuscript).
  Great minds report Phyllis Allen Richmond.
• Moore, J. R. (1977). Margaret Mann Citation,
  1977 Phyllis Allen Richmond. Library Resources
  and Technical Services. 21(4) 381-383.
• Pauline Atherton Cochrane, Oral History. November
  2001, April 2002.
• Phyllis Allen Richmond papers. Case Western
  Reserve University Archives. Phyllis Richmond.
  7PI Phyllis Richmond. Photograph is from CWRUA
  archive holdings. Special thanks to archivists
  Helen Conger and Tom Stedman.
• Richmond, P., Williamson, N. (1975).
  Three-dimensional models in classification. In
  A. Neelameghan (Ed.) Ordering systems for global
  information networks. Proceedings of the Third
  International Study Conference on Classification
  Research. Bombay, India 6-11 January 1975.
  Bangalore FID/CR, Sarada Ranganathan Endowment
  for Library Science.