A Critical Study of Dewey Decimal Classification System Used to Classify Materials on Ayurveda in Universities of Sri Lanka and to Develop a Classification System for Ayurvedic Literature

Abstract

The technique of classification is the most important tool in library and information services because it is considered as the foundation of librarianship. Today the traditional library classification is becoming rather inadequate under the impact of a rapidly growing Ayurvedic literature and disciplines related to Ayurveda. It has not been taken substantial attempts to overcome this problem. Therefore the aim of the study is to look into this area. At the same time it can be stated that if the material in a library is not properly organized, complete use of their resources cannot be made. This study attempts to develop a classification scheme based on DDC for Ayurvedic literature and also to find out how DDC scheme cover the subjects in Ayurvedic medical therapeutics. Further attention has been paid to ascertain the strength and weaknesses of the existing system and also to identify categories related to Ayurvedic literature. A questionnaire and an interview were the main research tools for the study. The questionnaire was used to gather data from users while the interview was used to collect information from librarians. The personal observations on classified catalogues, classification schemes and literature on Ayurveda were employed as methods in this study. The personal observations made by the researcher helped to determine the actual situation at the two institutional libraries in Sri Lanka, namely Institute of Indigenous Medicine and Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurvedic Institute. This study also examined where the literature on Ayurveda is classified in the DDC. This research has revealed that the inadequacy of the DDC in organizing Ayurveda literature and it can be further expanded to cover the existing Ayurvedic literature. …