R. K. Krishnan – författare

Special libraries are distinguished from special collections, which are branches or parts of a library intended for rare books, manuscripts, and other special materials. All other libraries fall into the “special library” category. Many private businesses and public organizations, including hospitals, museums, research laboratories, law firms, and many government departments and agencies, maintain their own libraries for the use of their employees in doing specialized research related to their work. The history of the library began with the first effort to organize a collection of documents (recorded knowledge). It goes back to at least around 1200 BC. Using a retronym is often stated that libraries were born when people began to organize information and provide access to that information. The history of the library should not be confused with the history of library science which is an academic discipline of much more recent origin.

Universal classification schemes designed for use by libraries were first developed in North America during the nineteenth century. The most famous (and most widely used) scheme is the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system, which was first produced for a small college library in 1876. Classification schemes differ from other subject indexing systems, such as subject headings and thesauri, by trying to create collections of related resources in a hierarchical structure. The use of notations or codes facilitates the creation of hierarchical subject trees. The use of classification schemes offers one way of providing improved access to Web resources. It is not enough to build a collection of resources on the Web of a specific standard or relevant to a particular audience. It is also necessary to organise and present those resources in such a way that the user can retrieve all the relevant resources quickly and easily.