DIN 32705:2025-08

This document covers all methods of organizing knowledge according to factual and systematic criteria using classification systems. Areas of application for this document include, for example: librarianship, information and documentation management, organizational management, human resources and accounting, statistics, and terminology. The following items, for example, can be classified: - services; - documents; - digital resources: individual items; - geographic regions and administrative units; - institutions; - organisms and living creatures; - processes and phenomena; - substances, materials, preparations, and goods; - subject areas; - theories, hypotheses, and other intellectual products. This document describes: what classification systems are and what they are used for; what elements and structures classification systems possess; what types of classification systems exist; how classification systems are to be established, designed, maintained, and further developed. The rules contained in this document are applicable to universal and special purpose classifications. They are intended to facilitate the uniform establishment and further development of classification systems. This document does not specify the procedures of numerical taxonomy (binary classification, biological nomenclature, biological systematics). This document has been prepared by Working Committee NA 009-00-09 AA "Beschreibung und Identifizierung" ("Identification and description") at DIN Standards Committee Information and Documentation (NID).