Examensarbete.

Examensarbete.

In November 2008, the National Library of Sweden decided to change their standard classification system from the Swedish Library Classification System (SAB) to the american Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). One of the main reasons to this transition was the assumption of gaining the possibility to exchange and import catalogue posts by using an outspread international classification system. Throughout the years, it has been disputed whether DDC’s treatment of music has been the most suitable. The system has been criticized for being biased in favor of Western music and not being updated with the growth of new music. The purpose of this study is to examine the opinions among librarians connected to the music area on how this classification transition went, and how it has affected their work. The primary questions concerned with this study are if the interviewees perceive that there is a problem by using DDC for music and if so, how? Additionally, does this change also affect the library users, or is it only the librarians? The method I am using to examine these questions is qualitative interviews based on Steinar Kvale and Svend Brinkmann’s thoughts in their book Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun. The theories that will be used for this thesis are theories concerning functional requirements of classification systems. The results show that the interviewees’ opinions are that DDC’s notation tends to be long, which affects the usability of the system. The interviewees’ perception is that DDC is also lacking in its treatment regarding musical recordings and the popular music area. One of the main reasons for this shortage is because there is basically no other library outside of Sweden that is classifying such material with DDC, which means that the information exchange with countries abroad has so far been rather exiguous.