UDC and the future

The future survival of the UDC will depend on its ability to create opportunities for renewal and change. The survival of the UDC depends on the strong editorial leadership and clear definition of priorities such as sufficient editorial staff and financial resources. These measures will ensure that the UDC continues to be marketable and acceptable to an expanding user base.

UDC has great potential as an aid to the exchange of information across language barriers, since its notation makes it independent of language. As such, the UDC serves as a major international scheme, reflecting its authoritative international consensus.

In the last few years, UDC has proved its value for organizing and searching electronic information, in several experimental projects. Licensing agreements are available (and several are in force) for the use of the Master Reference File, e.g. on local area networks (LANs) from UDC Consortium. UDC in electronic form is also available online and licensing can be purchased from British Standard Institution - UDC Online.