8.1 Classifying and Updating
Deciding what a document is about, what is its subject(s), “understanding” it, judging its relevance to the needs of users, expressing its subject(s) in a few well-chosen words, all this is preliminary to using a faceted classification. It has to be done, well or ill, but how it may be done will not be discussed here. The next step is to recast the “well-chosen” words into the terms used in the classification. One aim of any standardised vocabulary, whether alphabetical or classified, is to increase search success by expressing the subjects of both documents and enquiries in common terms. The searcher is helped to do this by displaying to him the terms used in the classification, in the hope that he will recognise those that will express his query. The classifier has to go through a similar process, recognising the terms that will express his initial formulation of the subject(s).