KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS: faceted classification theory applied

Abstract

Starting from the perception that the knowledge developed by the Library Science and the Information Science have not been amply applied and adapted for the digital environment, we present an approach based on the faceted classification for the organization of digital collection. First, we search for the clarification of the concepts of information and knowledge as well as the organization of information-knowledge. Then we discuss briefly about the importance of the classifying schemes of representation and organization of knowledge in order to facilitate the finding and retrieval of information. Besides, we present the Theory of Faceted Classification, and discuss about its application as a mechanism for the organization of knowledge in digital environments. This aims to create more efficient mechanisms for the navigation and exploration of these collections, so as to make it easier the information retrieval in these environments. Finally, we present the first results of our research, which tries to determine the value of the application of a faceted taxonomy for the organization of the knowledge in a digital library of theses and dissertations.