Knowledge Organisation and Retrieval Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The term 'canon' was used by Ranganathan and Sayers, so the answer is (i) and (ii) are correct.

W.C. Berwick Sayers set out his Canons of Classification in 1915. S.R. Ranganathan developed his normative principles of classification as a full system of canons for the idea plane, the verbal plane and the notational plane, alongside postulates and principles.

E.C. Richardson stated laws of classification in his Classification, Theoretical and Practical, and Wyndham Hulme is known for the principle of literary warrant. Neither named his principles canons, so every option including (iii) or (iv) is wrong.

Answer: A

In order of publication the schemes run (a) (d) (b) (c).

1. DDC: 1876, Melvil Dewey.
2. UDC: 1905, the first full edition by Otlet and La Fontaine, based on DDC.
3. CC: 1933, S.R. Ranganathan.
4. Broad System of Ordering: 1978, prepared for UNESCO's UNISIST programme.

DDC is the oldest and BSO by far the newest. The option listing (a) (b) (c) (d) misplaces UDC, which came before Ranganathan's scheme, and the other two options do not start with DDC at all.

Answer: B

The logical order is (b) (d) (a) (e) (c): comma, semicolon, colon, dot, inverted comma.

In the Colon Classification each of the five fundamental categories, PMEST, has its own connecting symbol, and the facets are written in that order:

• Personality: comma (,)
• Matter: semicolon (;)
• Energy: colon (:)
• Space: dot (.)
• Time: inverted comma (')

The other sequences break the PMEST order. One follows the order printed in the question, and the others start with the time or matter indicator, which come later in the sequence.

Answer: D

The correct matching is a-iv, b-iii, c-ii, d-i.

• Rules for a Dictionary Catalog (1876): Charles Ammi Cutter.
• AACR-II (1978): prepared jointly by the national bodies, among them the Canadian Committee on Cataloguing.
• Prussian Instructions: the English translation was published by the University of Michigan Press in 1938.
• British Museum cataloguing rules (the 91 rules of 1841): Anthony Panizzi.

The two names settle it: Cutter goes with the dictionary catalogue and Panizzi with the British Museum. Only one option gives a-iv and d-i, so the rest are wrong.

Answer: C

The answer is Both (A) and (R) are true.

The statements follow Ranganathan's definition of library classification: the translation of the name of the specific subject of a book from a natural language into an artificial language of ordinal numbers, the class number.

Assertion (A) gives the first half of that definition and Reason (R) completes it, saying what the translation is into. Both are therefore correct, and the options marking one or both of them false are wrong.

Answer: A

The answer is (A) is true but (R) is false.

Assertion (A) is correct: catalogue codes can and do incorporate the ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description). AACR2, for example, builds its description on the ISBD's areas of description and prescribed punctuation.

Reason (R) is false. ISBD only standardises the descriptive part of a record, while a catalogue code is a complete set of rules that also covers the choice and form of headings and access points. One includes the other; they are not the same. So the options calling (R) true are wrong.

Answer: C

The key accepts both statements, so the answer is Both (A) and (R) are true.

Assertion (A) is correct: the Dublin Core metadata element set, first standardised as ISO 15836 in 2003, was issued in its revised form as ISO 15836:2009 in February 2009.

Reason (R), in the paper's wording, describes Dublin Core's design: a simple, general standard of fifteen elements that is not tied to any one subject domain, so it can be easily understood and implemented by non-specialists across domains. With both accepted, the options making either statement false are wrong.

Answer: B

Universal Bibliographic Control is a programme of UNESCO/IFLA.

Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC) aims at a worldwide system in which each country records its own publications once, to international standards, and makes the records available to all. IFLA launched it as a core programme in 1974, with UNESCO's support, and its work produced standards such as the ISBDs.

FID, the International Federation for Information and Documentation, worked mainly on the UDC. UNISIST was UNESCO's separate programme for scientific information. ALA is a national association.

Answer: C

(A) is true, but (R) is false.

Assertion A is true: ISSN, the International Standard Serial Number (ISO 3297), is the international eight-digit numbering system that uniquely identifies serials such as journals, magazines and newspapers.

Reason R is false: in India ISSNs are assigned by the Indian National Centre for ISSN, run by CSIR-NISCAIR (now CSIR-NIScPR) in New Delhi. The Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation is the central body that supports public libraries. The similarly named Raja Rammohun Roy National Agency for ISBN assigns ISBNs to books, which is a different number for a different kind of publication.

Answer: B

UDC agglomerates non-consecutive subjects with + (Plus).

In the Universal Decimal Classification the plus sign joins two or more numbers that are not next to each other in the schedules, to show a document on both subjects, for example 622+669 for mining and metallurgy.

The stroke (/) does the same for consecutive numbers, covering the whole span between them (592/599). Circular brackets enclose common auxiliaries of form, place and so on, and square brackets group numbers in a complex number. Neither expresses an agglomeration of separate subjects.