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“ In the spectrum of books evaluated in this annotated bibliography this book lies somewhere in-between the accessible narrative examples of classification in Everything is Miscellaneous and the dense cognitive science in Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things. Sorting Things Out is far more detailed and organized than the former, but much more approachable than the latter.
Sarah Jean wrote this review Thursday, April 23 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The book attempts to answer three questions: “What work do classifications and standards do” “Who does that work?”, and “What happens to the cases that do not fit?” The authors answer these questions by exploring how classification relates to infrastructures, to the lives of individuals (“biography” ), and to work. In exploring these aspects of classification, the authors place a heavy emphasis on health and medicine, often using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), the Nursing Intervention Classification (NIC) and the International Classification and Nomenclature of Viruses (INV) as a examples of classification systems, the International Nomenclature of Diseases (IND) as an example of nomenclature, and HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis as examples of shifts in classification. Consequently, this work would best be suited for those researching classification in the health fields, as the information related to the classifications and nomenclature are very subject-specific.
Sorting Things Out does more to evaluate the historical and practical application of classification and categories relating to people (human diseases, apartheid) rather than the things people use (books, journals). In terms of library science, this book adds some good context to real world classification and how categories can be created and applied on a large scale, but offers little for anyone looking for library-specific classification theory or explanation.
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