I think that the biggest issue facing classification today is how rapidly technology is changing. Shirky states that people tend to hang on to old classification conventions that are not relevant to current electronic items (2005). The Dewey Decimal System is a perfect example of a system that was fit for the purpose when it was originally conceived, however is no longer relevant (Shirky 2005). The Dewey Decimal System is known to be rife with bias due to the issues with expanding it as time went on (Shirky 2005), however I think the biggest problem is the difficulty of replacing it with a new system. I have never been to a library that did not use the Dewey Decimal System. A complete overhaul would not just mean that librarians would be implementing a new system, it would mean a vast number of library users would have to learn a new way to find the books they want. However I do think that the very technology that is making it dificult for older classification systems could be the answer to this. With the abilities of modern search engines, finding the record for a book would not be difficult at all. Then it would just be a matter of following the signs on the shelves to the book, or more likely downloading the e-book version.
References
Shirky, C. (2005). Ontology is overrated: Categories, Links and Tags. Retrieved from: http://www.shirky.com/writings/ontology_overrated.html
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