The changes approved at EPC 143 include two substantive updates to Table 2. We have provided new notation for Kosovo, and updated the previously incomplete coverage of Philippine provinces.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo. Roughly half of the world’s countries recognize Kosovo as independent. Serbia considers the area to be the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, part of Serbia.
The new notation for Kosovo, T2—49719, has both Kosovo i Metohija and Republic of Kosovo in its class-here note, indicating that the notation can be used regardless of where one falls on this divide. It follows the DDC’s principle of organizing Table 2 by geography rather than political boundaries necessarily.
Discussion at the EPC raised the interesting question of what this change meant for the neutrality or impartiality of the DDC. Does adding such notation not implicitly take a side, and say that Kosovo is independent? The change was not motivated by a desire to take a side, but we recognized that not making a change might also be seen as implicitly taking a side (i.e., that Kosovo’s declaration of independence was illegitimate).
More informed people than me have written on whether libraries are, can be, or should be “neutral”, often with very different ideas of what that means, but the case of Kosovo in the DDC certainly feels like a case where true neutrality – think not naming any country – would greatly hamper utility.
Over in the Philippines, things are much more straightforward, at least in that it was just a matter of giving fuller coverage of the country in Table 2. With the recent changes, we’ve gone from seven Table 2 numbers under T2—599 Philippines to 102!
Unlike many countries, the Philippines has a clear basis for organization in Table 2 before political boundaries: its islands. Indeed, besides T2—59916 National Capital Region (former caption: Manila), all of the notation previously only went as far as four digits, for major islands and island groupings.
The recent changes were primarily about providing for the country’s 81 provinces, though we also accounted for the 17 organizing regions. Most of the provinces were previously in including notes. T2—5991 Luzon island and adjacent islands was particularly crowded! Here’s how it looked in the print DDC 23:
My thanks to the user in the Philippines who got the ball rolling on this some time ago. What’s next for Table 2? Expect some expansions in South Asia and Central Asia, along with some updates for countries that have reorganized, like Morocco and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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