Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine challenges facing bibliographic classification at both the practical and theoretical levels. At the practical level, libraries are increasingly dispensing with classifying books. At the theoretical level, many researchers, managers, and users believe that the
activity of “classification” is not worth the effort, as search engines can be improved without the heavy cost of providing metadata.
Design/methodology/approach – The basic issue in classification is seen as providing criteria for deciding whether A should be classified as X. Such decisions are considered to be dependent on the purpose and values inherent in the specific classification process. These decisions are not independent
of theories and values in the document being classified, but are dependent on an interpretation of the discourses within those documents.
Findings – At the practical level, there is a need to provide high-quality control mechanisms. At the theoretical level, there is a need to establish the basis of each decision, and to change the philosophy of classification from being based on “standardisation” to being based on classifications tailored to
different domains and purposes. Evidence-based practice provides an example of the importance of classifying documents according to research methods.
Originality/value – Solving both the practical (organisational) and the theoretical problems facing classification is necessary if the field is to survive both as a practice and as an academic subject within library and information science. This article presents strategies designed to tackle these challenges.