Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Call number. 3. Class number. 4. Book number. 5. Collection number. 6. Focus and facet. 7. Contractions. 8. Canons of classification. 9. Principles and postulates. 10. Main class. 11. Common isolate. 12. Time isolate. 13. Space isolate. 14. Language isolate. 15. Phase and intra-facet relation. 16. Classic. 17. Generalia. 18. Library science. 19. Mathematics. 20. Physics. 21. Engineering. 22. Chemistry. 23. Technology. 24. Biology. 25. Geology. 26. Mining. 27. Botany. 28. Agriculture. 29. Zoology. 30. Animal husbandry. 31. Medicine. 32. Pharmacognosy. 33. Useful arts. 34. Spiritual experience and mysticism. 35. Fine arts. 36. Literature. 37. Linguistics. 38. Religion. 39. Philosophy. 40. Psychology. 41. Education. 42. Geography. 43. History. 44. Political science. 45. Economics. 46. Sociology. 47. Law. Index. Schedules of Classics and Sacred Books.

"The Colon Classification is the latest scheme in the field of classification. It has revolutionised thinking in classification and stimulated research in it. This new method is suited to small and large, general and special libraries and can be used in classifying whole books as well as individual articles in a periodical or sections in a book. It is being taught in all schools of library science all over the world, not only as a means of arranging books on shelves but also as a means of finding out the focus of a book in a systematic way and finding the requirements of a reader while doing reference service. The new methodologies in classification invented as part of the Colon Classification - the facet analysis, the phase analysis and the zone analysis -- have lifted practical classification from guesswork to scientific method. They are forming an important theme in international conferences on information retrieval."