The System Builder

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I've been busy. On Friday, Mr. Phillips let me in on his grand classification scheme. It seems he had been working on a classification system for some years, which he had referred to as the Perfect System. Well, after much development and hard work, he had come to feel that it was inadequate, not so perfect after all, so he shelved it (so to speak) and is now starting over on a new one. This one he calls (are you ready?) the Greater Perfect System. The old one he now refers to as (I know you're not ready for this one) the Lesser Perfect System.

Anyway, it seems that Mr. Phillips wants me, for reasons known and probably comprehensible only to himself, to assist him in the construction of the GPS. He gave me a copy of Roget's Thesaurus of Words and Phrases to help me get started. Unlike most current thesauri that list words in alphabetical order, dictionary-style, this is an older edition that lists words by category--in other words, a sort of classification system. But the old Roget's is a classification of words, not of books, so it can't be adapted as it is for use in a library. However, as Mr. Phillips points out, words are essentially ideas, and Roget's categorization of words is essentially a categorization of ideas, which can provide the basis, or at least some kind of rough guide or helpful aid, for a library classification system.

At any rate, ever since I got home from work on Friday, I've been working on the GPS, with Roget's and a notebook and pen (Mr. Phillips would like it that way, sans computer). I have to admit I've become rather fascinated and obsessed with the project. Geeky, I know. I guess I've caught a little bit of Mr. Phillips' classification mania.