Korean decimal classification

Multiple library classification systems had been developed for Korean libraries before the publication of the KDC. These included the Railway Bureau Library Classification (1920), the Korean Decimal Classification edited by Bong-Suk Park (known as KDCP, 1947), the Han-Un Decimal Classification (1954), and the Kuk-Yeon Decimal Classification (1958).After the disappearance of editor Bong-Suk Park in the 1950s, the KDCP system decreased in use.[1] Korean librarians considered adopting the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), especially after it was implemented at Yonsei University in 1957, but struggled to apply it to East Asian and Korean-focused works in their collections.[1]

In February 1963, members of the Korean Library Association's Classification were appointed to create a national classification; they decided to make revisions to the order of the main classes of the DDC, for example bringing together the class Language (700) together with the class for Literature (800). Committee members prepared draft classes and indexes and the first edition of the KDC was published in May 1964.Both the text and the index were written in Korean Hangul characters and Chinese characters. The second edition was published just two years later, in 1966, correcting errors and omissions found in the first edition. The third edition was published in 1980, maintaining the basic framework of the previous editions while expanding significantly.

The fourth edition, published in 1996, made considerable changes, including increasing the number of representatives on the Classification Committee. The committee sought feedback from the library community and implemented revisions included in the recently published edition 20 of the DDC and edition 9 of the Nippon Decimal Classification. New policies applied to the fourth edition included principles suggesting the main classes should remain as static as possible, with focus shown to expanding classes devoted to technology and science. Likewise, many subject specialists were consulted for the publication of the fifth edition in 2009. The publication of the 23rd edition of the DDC in 2011 provided opportunity for a new revision of the KDC, and the sixth edition was published in July 2013. Greater numbers of classes provided number building capacity in the sixth edition, allowing for more specificity.

The KDC classifies resources primarily by discipline, though some classes are collocated by subject.[1] There are eight auxiliary mnemonic tables used to expand class numbers.[1]

The main classes of the KDC are the same as the main classes of the Dewey Decimal Classification, but four of those main classes are in a different order: Natural sciences (400), Technology and engineering (500), Arts (600), and Language 700. Though the structure is heavily influenced by the DDC, aspects of multiple library classifications have been invoked in the creation of the KDC, including the Library of Congress Classification for the arrangement of the social sciences (300), the Universal Decimal Classification for medical sciences (510), the KDCP for Korean and Oriental subjects, the Nippon Decimal Classification for those of Japan and Oriental subjects.

KDC is used by a wide range of libraries within Korea, including by the National Library of Korea and most school and public libraries in the country, along with some university libraries, such as the one at Youngnam University.[1]