Universal Decimal Classification
Clasificación Decimal Universal
- Date
- 1895 · confidence medium
- Place
- Brussels, Belgium
- Credited to
- Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine
- Field
- Communication
What it is
Belgian bibliographers Otlet and La Fontaine create the Universal Bibliographic Repertory in Brussels and, building on Dewey's decimal classification, develop a hierarchical decimal system to organise all human knowledge on index cards.
The system started in 1895 with the Universal Bibliographic Repertory and was published as a complete classification in successive editions up to 1905.
What it led to
- Forerunner institution of modern documentation and information science
- Library classification system used internationally
- Early vision of a worldwide knowledge network (conceptual precedent of the internet)