Adapting Public Library Knowledge Organisation for Diverse Communities

As knowledge organisation systems in public libraries are designed to be controlled and consistent, they struggle to keep pace with the needs of diverse and changing communities. With a theoretical basis in post-structuralism, this literature review explores the ways that adaptability can be built into these rigid systems to appropriately honour community truths and create more useful and welcoming collections. Three broad avenues of inquiry are presented. Librarian-led adaptability explores librarian training and initiatives. Tools like folksonomy and crosswalks are suggested to augment current systems. Finally, historical, international, and critical adaptations to Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) are discussed. The field of critical classification overwhelmingly centres on knowledge organisation in academic libraries, leaving a gap in the literature related to public libraries and DDC adaptations focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion. This review seeks to prove this topic’s merit for more rigorous study and calls for the strengthening of a community of practice.