James Duff Brown and library classification
Date: Tuesday 9 May 2006
Time: 6.30 pm
Venue: The Sekforde Arms, Sekforde Street, London EC1
Speaker: John Bowman, Lecturer in Library and Information Studies, University College London
2006 marks the centenary of the publication of James Duff Brown's Subject Classification. At the time Brown was Librarian of Islington, but he had previously been Librarian of Finsbury, which included Clerkenwell.
The talk will look at the systems of arrangement used in public libraries before open access, at Brown's contribution to classification, and in particular at his Subject Classification, which was the longest-lived of the alternatives to Dewey and is not quite defunct even now. The emphasis will be not so much on the schemes themselves as on the places where they were used, and on the networks by which they spread. No knowledge of classification required!
This meeting will be run in conjunction with a centenary exhibition, containing correspondence, books and personal documents, to be organised by Islington Archives in Finsbury Library.
CILIP in London evening meetings are free and open to all with a professional interest in the topic. Refreshments will be available afterwards. As space is limited, please let us know if you are coming. It would be helpful to tell us how you found out about the event. Contact Phillip Powell at Phillip@montanaroad.plus.com
Updated: 20 February 2006