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Preface to the 3rd Edition
While it was conceived in 1952, the first published edition of this classification system appeared in 1962. Since then, its use has spread widely throughout the United States, Israel and other parts of the Jewish world. Libraries of all kinds, in synagogues and community centers, in Hebrew schools, on college campuses and in research institutions, have adopted the scheme and worked with it. As a result, a body of experience in applying the system to all these diverse institutions developed, clearly demonstrating the need for minimal changes in the system from time to time while reaffirming the utility of its basic organizing principles. Meanwhile, the intervening years have been full of events deeply significant in contemporary Jewish history, all of which need to be reflected in an up-to-date classification scheme. Now, as the system reaches the mid-way point of its fifth decade, we are pleased to issue this Third Revised Edition which incorporates the lessons of experience in the field and seeks to satisfy the new bibliographic needs generated in the years since its invention and initial application. No major changes have been made as were done with the 500s in the last edition. Rather, these revisions are designed specifically to expand and clarify the system and make it more current and easier to use. In this edition, subjects have been added and certain divisions, especially the 700s and 800s were updated as required. The index has been expanded to make it more useful and accurate. The transliteration of Hebrew is no longer based upon the scheme found in The Standard Jewish Encyclopedia (Roth, 1959). Our authority is now the multi-volume Encyclopaedia Judaica (Keter, 1972). However, there are certain exceptions; e.g., for names of organizations and persons, we use the accepted spelling as used by theorganization or person.
The classification system presented in the following pages was developed for use in the Library of the United Hebrew Schools of Detroit, Michigan. First drafted in 1952, it has been in use there through several revisions and numerous modifications. The United Hebrew Schools Library served elementary, high school and colleage students, teachers on all levels, and the Jewish community at large. It was an ideal setting for testing and refining a system which organizes the published literature of Jewish civilization in all its aspects. The original published 1962 edition of the classification system contained many modifications to the 1952 draft based on the experiences of the librarians and patrons of the United Hebrew Schools Library. Their aid was invaluable and their share in the development of this system should be recognized. Particular acknowledgement must be made to the late Albert Elazar and Isadore Goldstein, then respectively superintendent and administrative secretary of the United Hebrew Schools. Their encouragement and active support of the Library and of the authors during their tenure as librarians there were decisive in making the publication of this system possible. Prior to publication of the first edition, in 1962 a mimeographed draft version of this system was circulated for comment and criticism through the assistance of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. Thanks are due the Foundation and particularly to the late Judah J. Shapiro, then its executive secretary, for making that developmental step possible. We are also gratefulto the Wayne State University Graduate Division for providing a grant-in-aid which was used toward preparing the manuscript for publication and to Dr. G. Flint Purdy, Director of Libraries, for help in securing publication of the first edition by Wayne State University Libraries. We owe much to that institution for making our system available and for handling its distribution during its first pubished decade. The second edition, published in 1978, with an addenda added in 1988, was based largely upon the comments of the members of the Association of Jewish Libraries of Southern California. These librarians systematically responded to our request for feedback, thereby enabling us to produce what we believe were more effective revisions than would otherwise have been the case. We are particularly gratified that the Los Angeles area, with its strong chapter of the International Association of Jewish Libaries, has come to rely heavily on our classification system. For these earlier editions, we are grateful to the late Dorothy Schroeder, to Adaire Klein and to Barbara Leff, who encouraged us to undertake the revisions and served as links between us and their constituency. Responsibility for the publication and distribution of the system was passed to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs; actual publication was undertaken jointly by the Center and the University Press of America. In the preparation of this Third Revised Edition of the Elazar Classification System, we have been assisted by two of its most experienced advocates in the field, Rita C. Frischer and Rachel K. Glasser of Sinai Temple Blumenthal Library and the Central Cataloging Service for Libraries of Judaica (CCS) in Los Angeles. They have recommended changes, contributed suggestions and expanded notes to make the scheme easier to use, reworked the index and reviewed the whole throughout in light of their experience and that of their colleagues. We have benefitted significantly from their efforts. We also acknowledge the important role the Central Cataloging Service for Libraries of Judaica has played in Judaica librarianship since 1986, supporting and encouraging a high standard of Judaic cataloging while advocating the Elazar Classification System as a valuable tool in achieving that goal. David H. Elazar and Daniel J. Elazar
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