Our Knowledge Grows

I will admit that this week came upon me all too quickly. I was almost at completion of The Shallows and “OMG” a posting on Everything is Miscellaneous is due. Yikes! So, I spent the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday reading this book. Though it was a bit slow moving and likely more background information than I would have cared for, I must confess that I actually enjoyed the history of the Dewey decimal system. I had never really given much thought to all of the years that went into building the system, and how it became groundwork for other indexing of our growing need to access information differently.

I haven’t spent much time in libraries over the last decade or two, so I had not realized how “outdated” the Dewey decimal system had become. I remember when card catalogs became a thing of the past and was quite appreciative of being able to use the computer to locate books on subject, topic, author, etc. It was so much easier to find books using the computer than standing at a card catalog and thumbing through cards to find something along the lines of a researched topic. It was clear from the book that this digital age is when everything became “miscellaneous”. The digital age aided in our need to have knowledge organized differently so that it can be retrieved in a variety of methods.

I had always wondered about the grand scheme of cataloging, like medical records. Many hospitals are now linking medical records nationally, which of course means finding a new system. I found an article on medical charts going electronic that I felt really fit well. The New York Times article published in April 2009 was about a Kansas Doctors who discovered the benefit of moving all paper charts to electronic. The doctors did not have to determine how to catalog the records, a program was purchased. Trainers could even be provided to work with the office staff to convert the files and access the records. Not only did the patients find it a time saver that they were no longer waiting for the receptionist to find the chart, but they could immediately view x-rays on an exam room computer screen, receive notes on the appointment when they checked out, etc. The staff also found that in addition to the ease of accessing patients’ records, they are able to generate reports on patients to personalize and monitor care.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/technology/11records.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

We basically live in a world where we appreciate the cataloging of information, but we have grown our need for knowledge to include not necessarily needing to put everything in a category right away. It can live miscellaneously until we need it and then someone determines how to sort and group it. So this leaves me to wonder, who are the experts that are making these decisions for us?