Library of Congress Subject Headings, Dewey Decimal Classification and the Ambiguity of Subject Representation of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe in American Knowledge Organization Systems

• Published in: Studia Środkowoeuropejskie i Bałkanistyczne Vol. 33; no. 33; pp. 9 - 19
• Main Author: Sroka, Marek
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Krakow Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego 01.01.2024; Jagiellonian University Press; Jagiellonian University-Jagiellonian University Press; Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Subjects: Cataloguing; Cold War; Dewey Decimal Classification; Knowledge organization; Library and Information Science; Library of Congress Subject Headings; Subject heading schemes; Eastern Europe; Eastern Europe; Central Europe; Dewey Decimal Classification; Library of Congress; subject headings
• ISSN: 2451-4993; 2543-733X
• DOI: 10.4467/2543733XSSB.24.001.20025

The paper examines the classification and subject representation of the concepts of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe in the context of the knowledge organization, especially historical information, in American research and academic libraries during the Cold War and post-Cold War era. The author argues that classification and subject schemes such as Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) have reflected the concept of the region, generally referred to as Eastern Europe, as an intellectual and political invention, with its historical biases and ambiguous representation. As will be demonstrated, despite the emergence of new nation states and the expansion of the European Union, the concepts of Central and Eastern Europe as separate entities are still alive as if the Cold War’s East-West division had never ended. The paper concludes with the analysis of the latest changes to DDC and LCSH (or lack thereof) to reflect current conditions in the region.