Using the Universal Classifications in Description of the Judaica Collection of Institute of Manuscript of V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine

The proposed article is devoted to improving the classification of literature on Jewish studies kept in the collections of both the V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine and other scientific libraries. Ukraine inherited from the former USSR a significant number of collections of literature in the area of Jewish studies, which include, in particular, the collection of the Department of Jewish Studies at the Institute of Manuscripts in Vernadsky Library. The issue of systematization, classification and cataloguing of the Judaic literature still remains not fully resolved. This state of affairs can be illustrated by looking at the classification of the languages of the respective texts. In particular, the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), widely used in modern Ukraine, indicates the following classification possibilities for the Hebrew language within Class 8 of the Classification: 811.4 Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Congo-Kordofanian, Khoisan languages 811.41 Afroasiatic languages 811.411 Semitic languages 811.411.16 Hebrew 811.411.16’02 Biblical Hebrew 811.411.16’03 Mishnaic 811.411.16’04 Rabbinical 811.411.16’08 Modern Hebrew. The potential of this classification is quite limited and it uses concepts borrowed from different branches of linguistics. For example, not all variants of the Hebrew language can be correctly classified as Jewish languages.  On the other hand, many Jewish languages are non-Semitic and should be classified within their respective language families.It is not our intention to classify the Jewish languages on the basis of purely linguistic parameters; the main goal of our study is to unambiguously relate a particular language and therefore the study, to the context of Jewish studies regardless of how correct and consistent the used classification system is for a particular sphere or knowledge.This allows us to conclude that the Ukrainian version of the UDC has sufficient potential for classifying research in the field of Jewish studies.