Organising Social Care Knowledge: In Search of a ‘Fit for Purpose’ Classification Available to Purchase

Classification is a useful tool for understanding, organising and accessing knowledge. It can form a valuable part of the infrastructure of evidence based policy and practice by clarifying the full range of knowledge that might be relevant to a practitioner or policy maker's information need. This paper explores two possible classifications for social care, one based on the purposes of knowledge, and the other on the institutional sources of knowledge. Following application to a sample of social care documents, the sources‐based approach is identified as the most ‘fit for purpose’ for the social care community.