Heuristic Potential of Library Bibliographic Classification

In the era when knowledge and information have become a strategic resource, theoretical and practical issues of building classification systems have seen an increased interest. The study of various library classifications, as well as their comparative analysis, allows us to identify local (and/or global) trends in the development of theory and practice of library and information activities. The multidimensional vision of heuristic potential as a complex of possibilities for finding effective new tools and techniques for solving complex problems has determined the scope and features of the research method. The purpose of the article is to determine the methodological mechanisms which can help expanding the capabilities of Library Bibliographical Classification (LBC) in solving cognitive, research and creative tasks. Realization of this goal was carried out on the basis of historical and methodological reconstruction method, rarely used at present. The object of historical and methodological reconstruction is the technology of knowledge organization. Subject scientific interest is focused on the study of a set of gnoseological tools and techniques that facilitate and simplify the solution of problems of library classification. Basing on the scientific publications of the staff of the Research Centre for the Development of LBC of the Russian State Library, as well as texts of Medium Schedules (2001—2019, issues 1—8), Abridged Schedules (2021) and Schedules for children’s and school libraries (2016), the authors present the original methodological base for updating the LBC of the Russian State Library. The paper reveals that the core of this methodological base is the method of scientific conjugation. The authors test the hypothesis of transformation of the LBC from the system of organizing the existing knowledge into a system of producing new knowledge with the expanded functionality. In addition to the traditional applied functions of the LBC — organizational, reference, information, methodological — classification also performs cognitive, enlightening, educational and research functions. The heuristic potential of the LBC is revealed through the knowledge and experience in different subject areas.