The Universal Decimal Classification

The Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) is the world's foremost multilingual classification scheme for all fields of knowledge, a sophisticated indexing and retrieval tool. It was adapted by Paul Otlet (Rayward's Otlet page; Wikipedia entry ) and Nobel Prizewinner Henri La Fontaine from the Decimal Classification of Melvil Dewey, and first published (in French) between 1904 and 1907. Since then, it has been extensively revised and developed, and has become a highly flexible and effective system for organizing bibliographic records for all kinds of information in any medium (it is well suited to multi-media information collections). It is structured in such a way that new developments and new fields of knowledge can be readily incorporated. The code itself is independent of any particular language or script (consisting of arabic numerals and common punctuation marks), and the accompanying class descriptions have appeared in many translated versions. UDC is in worldwide use, and has been published in whole or in part in 40 different languages (see bibliography of UDC editions).



http://www.udcc.org/about.htm

http://www.udcc.org/udcsummary/php/index.php?lang=es