Daniel Martínez-Ávila - Evaluation of the Open Shelves Classification as an application of the Bazaar Model to library classifications

Abstract: In 2008, LibraryThing founder Tim Spalding called for the development of a new library classification system, the Open Shelves Classification, following the open-source software development model (Eric Raymond's Bazaar Model). After several months of work by the community, including some scholars and professionals, the project was declared dormant in 2010. For this study, I analyzed all the documentation of the project (including forums, blogs, and websites) and discussed the application of the Bazaar Model to library classifications following the nineteen lessons of Raymond's "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" and the sociological analysis of"“Homesteading the Noosphere." While usually connected to the work of sociologists such as Marcel Mauss and Robert Merton, the open source design of the Open Shelves Classification can also be considered an example of Social Epistemology in Knowledge Organization.

Daniel Martínez-Ávila is a member of the ISKO Scientific Advisory Council. He also collaborates with the Satija Research Foundation for Library and Information Science, India, and the Institute for Gender Studies (IEG) at University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain. His research interests include knowledge organization, critical and social aspects applied to classification and epistemology.