The UDC was developed by the Belgian bibliographers Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine at the end of the 19th century. In 1895, they created the Universal Bibliographic Repertory (Répertoire Bibliographique Universel) (RBU) which was intended to become a comprehensive classified index to all published information. The idea that the RBU should take the form of a card catalogue came from the young American zoologist Herbert Haviland Field, who was at the time himself setting up a bibliographical agency in Zurich, the Concilium Bibliographicum.15 A means of arranging the entries would be needed, and Otlet, having heard of the Dewey Decimal Classification, wrote to Melvil Dewey and obtained permission to translate it into French. The idea outgrew the plan of mere translation, and a number of radical innovations were made, adapting the purely enumerative classification (in which all the subjects envisaged are already listed and coded) into one which allows for synthesis (that is, the construction of compound numbers to denote interrelated subjects that could never be exhaustively foreseen); various possible relations between subjects were identified, and symbols assigned to represent them. In its first edition in French "Manuel du Répertoire bibliographique universel" (1905), the UDC already included many features that were revolutionary in the context of knowledge classifications: tables of generally applicable (aspect-free) concepts—called common auxiliary tables; a series of special auxiliary tables with specific but re-usable attributes in a particular field of knowledge; an expressive notational system with connecting symbols and syntax rules to enable coordination of subjects and the creation of a documentation language proper.
The Universal Bibliographic Repertory grew to more than eleven million records in the period before World War I. The catalogue and its content organized by UDC can still be seen in Mundaneum in Mons, Belgium. In 2013 this catalogue was accepted onto the UNESCO Memory of the World international register, recognising it as documentary heritage of global importance.16
UDC is used in around 150,000 libraries in 130 countries and in many bibliographical services which require detailed content indexing. In a number of countries it is the main classification system for information exchange and is used in all types of libraries: public, school, academic and special libraries.171819
UDC is also used in national bibliographies of around 30 countries. Examples of large databases indexed by UDC include:20
UDC has traditionally been used for the indexing of scientific articles which was an important source of information of scientific output in the period predating electronic publishing. Collections of research articles in many countries covering decades of scientific output contain UDC codes. Examples of journal articles indexed by UDC:
The design of UDC lends itself to machine readability, and the system has been used both with early automatic mechanical sorting devices, and modern library OPACs.2425 Since 1993, a standard version of UDC has been maintained and distributed in a database format: UDC Master Reference File (UDC MRF) which is updated and released regularly.26 The 2011 version of the MRF (released in 2012) contains over 70,000 classes.27 In the past full printed editions used to have around 220,000 subdivisions.28
A notation is a code commonly used in classification schemes to represent a class, i.e. a subject and its position in the hierarchy, to enable mechanical sorting and filing of subjects. UDC uses Arabic numerals arranged decimally. Every number is thought of as a decimal fraction with the initial decimal point omitted, which determines the filing order. An advantage of decimal notational systems is that they are infinitely extensible, and when new subdivisions are introduced, they need not disturb the existing allocation of numbers. For ease of reading, a UDC notation is usually punctuated after every third digit:
In UDC the notation has two features that make the scheme easier to browse and work with:
UDC is an analytico-synthetic and faceted classification. It allows an unlimited combination of attributes of a subject and relationships between subjects to be expressed. UDC codes from different tables can be combined to present various aspects of document content and form, e.g. 94(410)"19"(075) History (main subject) of United Kingdom (place) in 20th century (time), a textbook (document form). Or: 37:2 Relationship between Education and Religion. Complex UDC expressions can be accurately parsed into constituent elements.
UDC is also a disciplinary classification covering the entire universe of knowledge.29 This type of classification can also be described as aspect or perspective, which means that concepts are subsumed and placed under the field in which they are studied. Thus, the same concept can appear in different fields of knowledge. This particular feature is usually implemented in UDC by re-using the same concept in various combinations with the main subject, e.g. a code for language in common auxiliaries of language is used to derive numbers for ethnic grouping, individual languages in linguistics and individual literatures. Or, a code from the auxiliaries of place, e.g. (410) United Kingdom, uniquely representing the concept of United Kingdom can be used to express 911(410) Regional geography of United Kingdom and 94(410) History of United Kingdom.
Concepts are organized in two kinds of tables in UDC:30
The vacant class 4 is the result of a planned schedule expansion. This class was freed by moving linguistics into class 8 in the 1960s to make space for future developments in the rapidly expanding fields of knowledge; primarily natural sciences and technology.
Common auxiliaries are aspect-free concepts that can be used in combination with any other UDC code from the main classes or with other common auxiliaries. They have unique notational representations that make them stand out in complex expressions. Common auxiliary numbers always begin with a certain symbol known as a facet indicator, e.g. = (equal sign) always introduces concepts representing the language of a document; (0...) numbers enclosed in parentheses starting with zero always represent a concept designating document form. Thus (075) Textbook and =111 English can be combined to express, e.g.(075)=111 Textbooks in English, and when combined with numbers from the main UDC tables they can be used as follows: 2(075)=111 Religion textbooks in English, 51(075)=111 Mathematics textbooks in English etc.
In order to preserve the precise meaning and enable accurate parsing of complex UDC expressions, a number of connecting symbols are made available to relate and extend UDC numbers. These are:
UDC classes in this outline are taken from the Multilingual Universal Decimal Classification Summary (UDCC Publication No. 088) released by the UDC Consortium under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 license (first release 2009, subsequent update 2012).31
The UDC tables for religion are fully faceted. Indicated in italics below, are special auxiliary numbers that can be used to express attributes (facets) of any specific faith. Any special number can be combined with any religion e.g. -5 Worship can be used to express e.g. 26-5 Worship in Judaism, 27-5 Worship in Christianity, 24-5 Worship in Buddhism. The complete special auxiliary tables contain around 2000 subdivisions of various attributes that can be attached to express various aspects of individual faiths to a great level of specificity allowing equal level of detail for every religion.
This section is currently vacant.
Class 6 occupies the largest proportion of UDC schedules. It contains over 44,000 subdivisions. Each specific field of technology or industry usually contains more than one special auxiliary table with concepts needed to express operations, processes, materials and products. As a result, UDC codes are often created through the combination of various attributes. Equally, some parts of this class enumerate concepts to a great level of detail e.g. 621.882.212 Hexagon screws with additional shapes. Including: Flank screws. Collar screws. Cap screws
Tables for class 8 are fully faceted and details are expressed through combination with common auxiliaries of language (Table 1c) and a series of special auxiliary tables to indicate other facets or attributes in Linguistics or Literature. As a result, this class allows for great specificity in indexing although the schedules themselves occupy very little space in UDC. The subdivisions of e.g. 811 Languages or 821 Literature are derived from common auxiliaries of language =1/=9 (Table 1c) by substituting a point for the equals sign, e.g. 811.111 English language (as a subject of a linguistic study) and 821.111 English literature derives from =111 English language. Common auxiliaries of place and time are also frequently used in this class to express place and time facets of Linguistics or Literature, e.g. 821.111(71)"18" English literature of Canada in 19th century
Tables for Geography and History in UDC are fully faceted and place, time and ethnic grouping facets are expressed through combination with common auxiliaries of place (Table 1d), ethnic grouping (Table 1f) and time (Table 1g)
They are derived mainly from the common auxiliaries of language =... (Table 1c) and so may also usefully distinguish linguistic-cultural groups, e.g. =111 English is used to represent (=111) English speaking peoples
"UDC Fact Sheet". UDC Consortium website. Retrieved 28 October 2018. http://www.udcc.org/index.php/site/page?view=factsheet ↩
McIlwaine, I. C. (2007). Universal Decimal Classification: a guide to its use (Revised ed.). The Hague: UDC Consortium. /wiki/Ia_McIlwaine ↩
McIlwaine, I. C. (2009). "Universal Decimal Classification (UDC)". Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences (Third ed.). pp. 5432–5439. doi:10.1081/E-ELIS3-120043532. ISBN 978-0-8493-9712-7. 978-0-8493-9712-7 ↩
"Universal Decimal Classification 1: General properties and basic number building". Essential Classification. 2017. pp. 241–264. doi:10.29085/9781783302383.019. ISBN 9781783302383. 9781783302383 ↩
"Universal Decimal Classification 2: Auxiliary tables". Essential Classification. 2017. pp. 265–298. doi:10.29085/9781783302383.020. ISBN 9781783302383. 9781783302383 ↩
UDC History, "About UDC" - UDC Consortium website http://www.udcc.org/index.php/site/page?view=about_history ↩
McIlwaine, I. C. (1997). "The Universal Decimal Classification: Some factors concerning its origins, development, and influence". Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 48 (4): 331–339. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199704)48:4<331::AID-ASI6>3.0.CO;2-X. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
UDC Consortium, UDC Consortium website http://www.udcc.org/index.php/site/page?view=about_udcc ↩
UDC Editions, UDC Consortium website http://www.udcc.org/index.php/site/page?view=editions ↩
Slavic, A. (November 2004). "UDC Translations: a 2004 Survey Report and Bibliography". Extensions & Corrections to the UDC. 26 (2004): 58–80. hdl:10150/106363. /wiki/Hdl_(identifier) ↩
"Universal Decimal Classification Summary". UDC Consortium. Retrieved April 13, 2022. http://www.udcc.org/udcsummary/php/index.php ↩
Major Revisions of the UDC 1993-2013, UDC Consortium website http://www.udcc.org/index.php/site/page?view=major_revisions ↩
Slavic, A.; Cordeiro, M. I.; Riesthuis, G. (June 2008). "Maintenance of the Universal Decimal Classification: overview of the past and preparations for the future". International Cataloguing and Bibliographic Control. 37 (2): 23–29. hdl:10150/105220. /wiki/Hdl_(identifier) ↩
Slavic, A. (2004). "UDC implementation: from library shelves to a structured indexing language". International Cataloguing and Bibliographic Control. 33.3 (2004): 60–65. hdl:10150/105685. /wiki/Hdl_(identifier) ↩
Rayward, W. Boyd: From the index card to the World City: knowledge organization and visualization in the work and ideas of Paul Otlet. IN: A. Slavic, A. Akdag Salah and S. Davies (Eds.): Proceedings of the International UDC Seminar 2013: Classification & Visualization: Interfaces to Knowledge, The Hague (Netherlands), 24–25 October 2013. Wurzburg: Ergon Verlag, 2013, pp. 1-41 ↩
"Universal Bibliographic Repertory". UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. Retrieved 2025-04-04. https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/universal-bibliographic-repertory ↩
Slavic, A. (2006). "Use of the Universal Decimal Classification: a worldwide survey". Journal of Documentation. 64 (2): 211–228. doi:10.1108/00220410810858029. hdl:10150/105579. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
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"UDC Countries". UDC Consortium. http://www.udcc.org/countries.htm ↩
Collections indexed by UDC, UDC Consortium website http://www.udcc.org/index.php/site/page?view=collections ↩
"Yeast Systematics: from Phenotype to Genotype". Food Technology and Biotechnology. ISSN 1330-9862. Retrieved 28 October 2018. Example: Journal article indexed by UDC http://www.ftb.pbf.hr/index.php/ftb/article/viewFile/243/241 ↩
"The game method as means of interface of technical-tactical and psychological preparation in sports orienteering" (PDF). Pedagogico-psychological and Medico-biological Problems of the Physical Culture and Sport (in Russian). ISSN 2070-4798. Retrieved 28 October 2018. Example: Journal article indexed by UDC http://www.kamgifk.ru/magazin/20_%283%29_2011/20_%283%29_2011_16.pdf ↩
"Residual Stress in Shot-Peened Sheets of AIMg4.5Mn Alloy". Materials and Technology. ISSN 1580-2949. Retrieved 28 October 2018. Example: Journal article indexed by UDC http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5320753/UDK-Pregledni-znanstveni-lanek-ISSN-MTAEC-M-MI-OVI ↩
Slavic, A. (December 2006). "The level of exploitation of Universal Decimal Classification in library OPACs: a pilot study". Vjesnik Bibliotekara Hrvatske. 49 (3–4): 155–182. hdl:10150/105346. /wiki/Hdl_(identifier) ↩
Slavic, A. (2006). "UDC in subject gateways: experiment or opportunity?". Knowledge Organization. 33 (2): 67–85. hdl:10150/105276. /wiki/Hdl_(identifier) ↩
UDC Master Reference File, UDC Consortium website http://www.udcc.org/index.php/site/page?view=mrf ↩
UDC Subject Coverage, UDC Consortium website http://www.udcc.org/index.php/site/page?view=subject_coverage ↩
UDC Structure and Tables, UDC Consortium website http://www.udcc.org/index.php/site/page?view=about_structure ↩