分類是吾人看待世界的視角，亦反映出類表編輯者的世界觀。編輯者將其感興趣的現象與現象間彼此的關係呈現在情境脈絡中，以提供描述、解釋、預測、美學、以及產生新知識等功能。本文在文獻組織不等於知識組織的前提下，首先闡明分類的意義與知識組織的意涵，之後述及分類與知識的呈現和組織之關係，接著比較圖書資訊學界多年來所發展出的各種圖書資訊分類架構呈現知識之能力。唯有了解各種分類架構的特性，才能在知曉其缺點的前提下善用其優點。

Classification is a way of seeing the world. In a classification scheme, phenomena of interest are represented in a context of relationships that provide description, explanation, prediction, heuristics, and the generation of new knowledge. Knowing that information organization isn’t equal to knowledge organization, the author first defines the scope of
classification and knowledge organization, and then describes the relationship between the classification and the representation and organization of knowledge. At the end, four kinds of classification structures are compared to show their abilities in representing knowledge.
In order to utilize these classification structures, it is very important to understand their advantages and disadvantages.