Knowledge Organisation and Retrieval Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The key's answer is (i), (iii) and (iv).

Pre-coordinate indexing, such as chain indexing, PRECIS and POPSI, is the conventional method of printed indexes and catalogues: the indexer combines the terms into a subject string at the time of indexing, and the result is a collection of index entries arranged for searching. So (i), (iii) and (iv) describe it.

Statement (ii), which describes higher recall at the cost of precision, is the characteristic usually attributed to post-coordinate systems, where the searcher combines terms at search time. So codes including (ii) are wrong.

Answer: C

The ISBD formats are (i) ISBD (ER), (ii) ISBD (CR) and (iv) ISBD (PM).

IFLA issued specialised ISBDs, among them ISBD(ER) for electronic resources, ISBD(CR) for serials and other continuing resources, and ISBD(PM) for printed music, alongside ISBD(M) for monographs, ISBD(CM) for cartographic materials and others. They were merged into the consolidated ISBD in 2007-2011.

There was no ISBD(BK); books were covered by ISBD(M) for monographic publications. So every code including (iii) is wrong.

Answer: C

The canonical sequence is (iv) (i) (ii) (iii): poetry, drama, fiction, letters.

In Colon Classification the forms of literature follow a fixed, traditional (canonical) order: 1 Poetry, 2 Drama, 3 Fiction, 4 Letters, followed by oration and other forms. Ranganathan adopted this sequence because it reflects the conventional order in which these forms are treated.

The other codes put fiction or letters before poetry and drama, which departs from this sequence.

Answer: D

The order is (iv) (v) (ii) (iii) (i): Personality, Matter, Energy, Space, Time.

Ranganathan's fundamental categories, PMEST, are arranged in order of decreasing concreteness: Personality, Matter, Energy, Space and Time. This facet formula governs the citation order in the Colon Classification.

Codes starting with Time or Energy reverse or scramble the sequence, so they are wrong.

Answer: B

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

• Peek-a-boo cards are searched by optical coincidence: holes punched for a document line up when the cards for the search terms are superimposed.
• Uniterm indexing, by Mortimer Taube, is post-coordinate: single terms are combined at search time.
• Chain indexing can produce false links, steps in the class number chain that are not useful headings.
• KWOC (keyword out of context) is a pre-coordinate index.

The other codes mismatch these pairs.

Answer: C

The keyed answer is Both (A) and (B) are true. I could not trace the two statements to a source, so the key is kept on its reading.

Statement (A) asks that facet analysis and the scheduling of the deeper mnemonics in a scheme be made more objective, which is the kind of improvement faceted classification, in the Colon Classification tradition of S. R. Ranganathan, aims at: facets drawn from fixed principles rather than from the classifier's choice. Statement (B) says that as such work develops, classification will serve better as an international language for exact and quick retrieval of subjects. Both are aims that the field openly states, not claims that can be shown false.

Options A, B and D each need one of the statements to be false. I found nothing that shows either one false, so they are rejected.

Answer: C

Both (A) and (R) are true.

Under AACR2, a work produced under editorial direction, such as an edited collection of contributions by different authors, is entered under its title, with an added entry for the editor. So the assertion is true.

The reason is also accepted: an editor prepares or compiles other people's work and is not its author, so the editor does not qualify for the main entry. The other codes deny one of these statements and are wrong.

Answer: A

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

The Dewey Decimal Classification was traditionally revised in new print editions roughly every seven years (DDC 20 in 1989, 21 in 1996, 22 in 2003, 23 in 2011), and that is the revision cycle the assertion describes. Since then OCLC has moved to continuous updating through WebDewey.

The reason is also true: knowledge keeps growing and changing, which is exactly why any classification scheme needs regular revision.

Answer: A

A compound subject arises from lamination.

In Ranganathan's modes of formation of subjects, lamination builds a compound subject by adding one or more isolate facets to a basic subject, as in 'medicine' plus 'children' plus 'diseases'. The facets are laid on the basic subject like layers.

Loose assemblage produces a complex subject by bringing together two subjects in a relation such as influence or comparison. Fission splits a subject into its divisions, and distillation produces a new basic subject from recurring methods or ideas. None of these forms a compound subject.

Answer: C

The equivalent term is standard subdivision.

Ranganathan's common isolates are facets, such as form, time or place of treatment, that can be attached to any subject. In the Dewey Decimal Classification the equivalent device is the table of standard subdivisions (Table 1), with notations such as -03 for dictionaries and -05 for serial publications, usable with any class number.

'Form divisions' and 'standard divisions' are older names that Dewey used before the term was settled; the current editions call them standard subdivisions. 'Common field' is not a DDC term.