`Concerns of classification and subject indexing typically revolve around the problems of standard systems for the needs of women in general or for specialised collections. These problems are usually addressed in one of two ways: to adapt the standard system, or to create a new system. The major goal of this workshop is to explore when these options are appropriate and how they can be achieved.

Participants
Sheridan Harvey: reference librarian and women's studies specialist, Library of Congress, USA.
Hope Olson: associate professor, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta,
Canada. Katarina Blomqvist: acting head en research librarian KVINFO, the Danish Centre for Information on Women and Gender, Denmark. Nandita Ghandi: director and founder member AKSHARA, Women's Resource Centre, India.
Renuka Dave: CHETNA, Centre for Health, Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness, India.
Joan Yee: deputy librarian, University of the South Pacific, Fiji (replacing Vanessa Griffen, whom she works with at the Asia and Pacific Development Centre, "Nushu Room" Malaysia).
Jamie Penney: Boston Women's Health Collective, USA.
Anja Jansma: Anna Blaman Huis, the Dutch Intercultural Archive and Library on Gay and Lesbian Lifestyles, the Netherlands.
Maria Soledad Weinstein & Ximena Charnes: ISIS, Chili.

Main points of speakers' presentations
The speakers were arranged according to the nature of their subject c.q. background, ranging in character from general and established to specialised and new. Sheridan Harvey talked about the situation at the Library of Congress which serves not only as the parliamentary library of the USA but also as the national library of the USA in which capacity it aims to collect everything of research value published all over the world. This means it has to deal with 10.000 items every day of which about 1000 need cataloguing. For this purpose they use a complex system of subject headings the latest edition of which comprises five separate volumes. This system is used around the world by other libraries. She points out a few disadvantages with respect to its use in specialised libraries which deal with women and gender issues. - women is just one of a quarter of a million subject headings

- subject headings are male oriented; the default value is always male

- subject headings are racially biased; the default value is white

- subject headings are inconsistent (for example women painters refers to female painters while animal painters refers to people who paint animals)

- over 300 people work in cataloguing, which means it is very difficult to achieve a uniform system

- old fashioned subject headings are still being used

- the sheer size of the system

Positive characteristics are the controlled vocabulary, a good system of related terms, the appearance of a new edition every year (and online changes).

Hope Olson talked about her research project: to device a Feminist Map of Global Territory. To this end she has decided to adapt the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). Phase I

- an existing women's thesaurus was compared with the DDC to evaluate co-extensiveness

- the result was made available in Windows and on the WWW (two interfaces)

- three results were meant to emanate from this process:

1. a searching aid;

2. a classification aid; and

3. an evaluation of DDC (identification of the limits).

Phase II
The aim of this phase was to make the limits permeable, which means to create rhetorical spaces, to create paradoxical spaces, and to employ plurilocality. The implementation of phase II would involve changes on a global level through adapting the DDC, changes on a regional level by creating supplements for DDC in specialised domains (e.g. women's studies), and local changes, i.e. creating options for individual contexts. Phase III will consist of an evaluation by experts in women's studies. Everyone present is invited to take part. It will begin in about 12 to 18 months time.

Katarina Blomqvist talked about the system of subject indexing devised by the Danish Centre for Information on Women and Gender. The system is meant to be easy to use, and it has to facilitate systematic research (on very narrow and specific subjects). The reasons for this being the diverse background of its users, their lack of training in using search mechanisms, and the relatively small size of the collection. The system uses seven main categories: main area, period, country, controlled keywords, floating terms, uncontrolled keywords, genre. It makes use of ordinary Danish which is supposed to be easily understood, adequate, logical and long lasting. It is possible to access the system through other libraries.

Nandita Ghandi discussed the AKSHARA system devised by the Women's Resource Centre in India. This library used to work with the DDC but experienced the following problems with this system: it was euro-centric, sexist, ideologically conservative, cumbersome to use, expensive and not suitable for small collections. Three alternative systems were considered (the Malayan IOCU, the Dutch SATIS and the Indian CEO) but all were rejected for one or more of the above mentioned reasons. Therefore it was decided to build a new system, the AKSHARA, which had to be user friendly, non expensive and flexible (i.e. expandable). The system consists of 15 classes (broad subjects) or keywords. Within these classes subcategories can be used which are numerically identified (100-999). The advantages of this system are that it is easy to use, not much training is required and that there is room for expansion and modification. Disadvantages areas that it is only useful for a small collection, that the classifiers have to share a common perspective, that some "general" headings tend to become a dumping ground, and that quick expansion can create confusion.

Renuka Dave described her organisations experiences with the changeover from the DDC to the AKSHARA system. She works for a documentation and information centre (CHETNA) which possesses a small collection of 6000 books and 5000 non-book items, which were collected over a period of about 18 years. She lists the following as main disadvantages of the DDC: it is not suitable for small collections, and it is complicated to use. The advantages of the AKSHARA system are that it includes all the required subjects, that it is easy to use (no training needed), that it is flexible (you can add as many subclasses as you want/need), and the emphasis on women's issues. The CHETNA had developed its own software to use AKSHARA as a search programme.

Joan Yee also describes her organisations choice for the AKSHARA system. She works for a specialised library which possesses about 10.000 items. She too mentions several disadvantages of the DDC: it is not appropriate for small collections, it is not user friendly, the numbers get very long (10 digits), and it is euro-centric. The AKSHARA system on the other hand was highly relevant for their collection, no training was necessary for either classifiers or users. The system does however have to be adapted to the specific needs of the Asia and Pacific Development Centre. This will probably involve a reduction of the main classes from 15 to 3. Afterwards these changes will be evaluated. It is important that these experiences will be exchanged with other organisations. Besides Joan mentions the need for the development of a thesaurus for the Asian and Pacific region.

Jamie Penney describes the thesaurus developed by the Boston Women's Health Collective. Their collection exists of 10.000 books and about 100.000 documents and other material. The thesaurus format was based on an ISO standard. The search terms were selected by the collective. Important aspects of this process were the choice of terms and the relatedness of terms (within the context of the organisation). The thesaurus is use for cataloguing and for searching.

Anja Jansma also described an individual system. The thesaurus of the Anna Blaman Huis was devised in co-operation with Homodoc an organisation for gay men. The main problem encountered during this process was the difference in orientation of both organisations. Homodoc was more technically orientated and the Anna Blaman Huis more ideologically. The thesaurus is also used in South Africa and is presently translated in Spanish and German.

Maria Soledad Weinstein and Ximena Charnes talked about the classification system ISIS developed for South and Latin America. Their main aim was to find a system to conceptualise the theme of the woman. Their system is updated every two years and used in about 70 centres in South and Latin America. They are presently working on a web page.

Discussion
Two main points came out of the discussion at the end of the workshop. First of all it was agreed that there is a need to share classification schemes and thesauri. It was suggested that an organisation like the IIAV or the Mapping the World project could put a few examples of thesauri on its web page so that potential users could study and compare them in order to judge their usefulness for their own organisation. Secondly, it was suggested that we should embrace diversity. There is no panacea, and we should not strive for one.

The workshop was received well by the audience. There were a few questions at the end of the workshop, which caused some discussion in which the above mentioned two points came forward as conclusions.

Noemi Volovics, 24.08.98