Library of Congress Classification

The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) is a system of library classification developed by the Library of Congress in the United States, which can be used for shelving books in a library. LCC is mainly used by large research and academic libraries, while most public libraries and small academic libraries used the Dewey Decimal Classification system.^[1] The classification was developed by James Hanson (chief of the Catalog Department), with assistance from Charles Martel, in 1897, while they were working at the Library of Congress.^[2] It was designed specifically for the purposes and collection of the Library of Congress to replace the fixed location system developed by Thomas Jefferson.

LCC has been criticized for lacking a sound theoretical basis; many of the classification decisions were driven by the practical needs of that library rather than epistemological considerations.^[3] Although it divides subjects into broad categories, it is essentially enumerative in nature. That is, it provides a guide to the books actually in one library's collections, not a classification of the world.

History edit

The central core of the modern Library of Congress was formed from books sold to the government by Thomas Jefferson after the original collection was razed by the British in the War of 1812. As a result, the original classification system used by the library was of his own invention. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, the collection had grown to over a million volumes and his system was deemed too unwieldy.^[4]

John Russell Young, the seventh Librarian of Congress, hired James Hanson and Charles Martel in 1897,^[5] who began the development of a new classification system that would more accurately describe the collections the library held. Young's tenure as Librarian ended with his death in 1899, and his successor, Herbert Putnam, continued to implement the updates to the catalog through his long stay in the office.^[6] By the time he departed from his post in 1939, all the classes except K (Law) were well developed.^[4]

In creating their classification system, Hanson and Martel evaluated several systems already in existence, including the Dewey Decimal System, Charles Ammi Cutter's Cutter Expansive Classification, the Index Medicus,^[7] and the Putnam Classification System (developed while Putnam was head librarian at the Minneapolis Public Library).^[8] The one closest to their needs was Cutter's; however, he died before the completion of his system.^[9] Hanson and Martel thus decided to develop their own unique system, strongly based on his ideas. They published their first outline of the classification scheme in 1904.^[4] Development of the classes continued throughout the twentieth century. The last class to be developed was K (Law): the first K schedule was published in 1969 and not completed until the 2004 publication of KB.^[4]

From 1996 onwards, the LCC schedules were available online, and since 2013, there have been no new print editions of the classification system. All updates are now distributed by the Library's Cataloging Distribution Service entirely online.^[4]

Design and organization edit

LCC divides all knowledge into twenty-one basic classes, exchanges given a single letter of the alphabet as an identifier. The vast majority of these classes are divided further into two and three level sub-classes.^[10] With these sub-classes, numerical ranges are assigned to topics, going from more general to more specific. Unlike in the Dewey Decimal Classification, where the numbers assigned to a topic iterate throughout the system (e.g., the ".05" tag indicated a periodical publication on the topic), the LCC numerical ranges are strictly hierarchal, only corresponding to their level on the outline. LCC is enumerative, meaning that it lists all the classes in officially published schedules, which are updated as needed by the Library of Congress.^[10]

The call number for Glaciers and Glaciation (2nd edt.) by Benn & Evans. This indicates that it belongs to the broad class of "Geography, Anthropology, Recreation," the subclass of "Physical Geography," and the topic of "Ice. Glaciers. Ice sheets. Sea ice." B44 is the Cutter number, after the first author Benn, and 2010 represents the publication year.

After the range of numbers making up the topical division, call numbers often also include one or more Cutter numbers, modeled after the unfinished Cutter Expansive Classification index. The full LCC schedules contain tables that describe Cutter numbers for certain types of media, collections of work, and geographical areas.^[4] Cutter numbers also can take the form of an author-specific code, containing a letter and several numbers corresponding to the author's last name. This serves to further distinguish publications and nominally alphabetize volumes within a topic section. The final component of a typical LCC call-number is the publication year, in full.^[11] Library collections can add modifiers to distinguish specific volumes, such as "Copy 1."^[1]

LCC should not be confused with Library of Congress Control Numbers (LCCN), which are assigned to all books (and authors) and defines online catalog entries.^[a] Library of Congress Classification is also distinct from Library of Congress Subject Headings, the system of labels such as "Glaciers" and "Glaciers—Fiction" that describe contents systematically.^[b]

One variation from the original LCC system is the National Library of Medicine classification system (NLM), which uses the initial letters W and QS–QZ, which are not used by LCC. Some libraries use NLM in conjunction with LCC, eschewing LCC's R, QM, and QP, which overlap with NLM's schema.^[12]^[13] Another is the Canadian Universities and the Canadian National Library using FC for Canadian History, a subclass that LCC has not officially adopted, but which it has agreed not to use for anything else.^[14]^[15]

Classes edit

Letter	Subject area^[10]
A	General Works
B	Philosophy, Psychology, Religion
C	Auxiliary Sciences of History
D	World History and History of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
E	History of America
F	History of the Americas
G	Geography, Anthropology, and Recreation
H	Social Sciences
J	Political Science
K	Law
L	Education
M	Music
N	Fine Arts
P	Language and Literature
Q	Science
R	Medicine
S	Agriculture
T	Technology
U	Military Science
V	Naval Science
Z	Bibliography, Library Science, and General Information Resources

Use and criticism edit

Together with the Dewey Decimal System (DDC), LCC make up the two main classification system used in U.S. libraries.^[1] LCC is favored by large academic and research libraries.

Systems of classification can be evaluated on several metrics, including expressiveness (the ability of the numeration system to express the hierarchal and correlative relationships between topics), hospitality (the ability of the system to accommodate new subjects), and brevity (length of call numbers).^[4] While LCC is significantly less expressive than DDC, it is extremely hospitable, mainly in the fact that five class (I, O, W, X, and Y) lack any assignment to topics.^[9] LCC call numbers also tend to be shorter than those in DDC.

The main difference between DDC and LCC is their approach to classifying. Dewey's system is a comprehensive classification to all topics, with no regard to the actual collections a library might hold. While this has allowed it to be successfully adapted into more modern classification systems for use outside of libraries, such as the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC),^[16] it does make it more unwieldy for large or specialized collections. On the other hand, Hanson and Martel designed LCC specifically for library use, which means while it does not completely enumerate the world, it does more reflect what books a library might hold.^[3]

Because LCC was designed around the collections of the Library of Congress, it has an American, European, and Christian bias, as reflected mainly in the earlier developed schedules of D (World History), E and F (History of the Americas), and B (Philosophy, Psychology, Religion). On the other hand, the later-developed K (Law) gives fairly even weight to global law.^[10] Today, the various schedules are maintained and revised by the Library's Policy and Standards Division, in conjunction with experts in each field. However, updating various schedules with classification biases is generally assumed to be impractical due to the massive workload that would result in,^[4] especially as the "discipline" based classes of LCC have been entrenched in the average library user's mind.^[17]

Like all classification systems, LCC struggles with catering to interdisciplinary scholars and topics, as ultimately, a book can only be shelved in a single location.^[17] Additionally, LCC has a problem with "othering" marginalized groups, making works related to or authored by members of these groups particularly difficult to locate.^[17] This is not a new issue, and libraries with more specialized collections about minority groups or issues sometimes eschew LCC,^[17] with one example alternative classification being the Harvard–Yenching Classification, specifically developed for Chinese language materials.

Full classification outline edit

Class D – World History and History of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc. edit

Subclass D – History (General)
Subclass DA – Great Britain
Subclass DAW – Central Europe
Subclass DB – Austria – Liechtenstein – Hungary – Czechoslovakia
Subclass DC – France – Andorra – Monaco
Subclass DD – Germany
Subclass DE – Greco-Roman World
Subclass DF – Greece
Subclass DG – Italy – Malta
Subclass DH – Low Countries – Benelux Countries
Subclass DJ – Netherlands (Holland)
Subclass DJK – Eastern Europe (General)
Subclass DK – Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics – Poland
Subclass DL – Northern Europe. Scandinavia
Subclass DP – Spain – Portugal
Subclass DQ – Switzerland
Subclass DR – Balkan Peninsula
Subclass DS – Asia
Subclass DT – Africa
Subclass DU – Oceania (South Seas)
Subclass DX – Romanies

Class E – History of America edit

Class E does not have any subclasses.

Class F – Local History of the Americas edit

Class F does not have any subclasses, though Canadian Universities and the Canadian National Library use FC for Canadian History, a subclass that LCC has not officially adopted, but which it has agreed not to use for anything else.^[14]^[15]

Class G – Geography, Anthropology, Recreation edit

Subclass G – Geography (General). Atlases. Maps
Subclass GA – Mathematical geography. Cartography
Subclass GB – Physical geography
Subclass GC – Oceanography
Subclass GE – Environmental Sciences
Subclass GF – Human ecology. Anthropogeography
Subclass GN – Anthropology
Subclass GR – Folklore
Subclass GT – Manners and customs (General)
Subclass GV – Recreation. Leisure

Class H – Social Sciences edit

Subclass H – Social sciences (General)
Subclass HA – Statistics
Subclass HB – Economic theory. Demography
Subclass HC – Economic history and conditions
Subclass HD – Industries. Land use. Labor
Subclass HE – Transportation and communications
Subclass HF – Commerce
Subclass HG – Finance
Subclass HJ – Public finance
Subclass HM – Sociology (General)
Subclass HN – Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Subclass HQ – The family. Marriage, Women and Sexuality
Subclass HS – Societies: secret, benevolent, etc.
Subclass HT – Communities. Classes. Races
Subclass HV – Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Subclass HX – Socialism. Communism. Anarchism

Class J – Political Science edit

Subclass J – General legislative and executive papers
Subclass JA – Political science (General)
Subclass JC – Political theory
Subclass JF – Political institutions and public administration
Subclass JJ – Political institutions and public administration (North America)
Subclass JK – Political institutions and public administration (United States)
Subclass JL – Political institutions and public administration (Canada, Latin America, etc.)
Subclass JN – Political institutions and public administration (Europe)
Subclass JQ – Political institutions and public administration (Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific Area, etc.)
Subclass JS – Local government. Municipal government
Subclass JV – Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration
Subclass JX – International law, see JZ and KZ (obsolete)
Subclass JZ – International relations

Class K – Law edit

Subclass K – Law in general. Comparative and uniform law. Jurisprudence
Subclass KB – Religious law in general. Comparative religious law. Jurisprudence
Subclass KBM – Jewish law
Subclass KBP – Islamic law
Subclass KBR – History of canon law
Subclass KBS – Canon law of Eastern churches
Subclass KBT – Canon law of Eastern Rite Churches in Communion with the Holy See of Rome
Subclass KBU – Law of the Roman Catholic Church. The Holy See
Subclasses – KD/KDK - United Kingdom and Ireland
Subclass KDZ – America. North America
Subclass KE – Canada
Subclass KF – United States
Subclass KG – Latin America – Mexico and Central America – West Indies. Caribbean area
Subclass KH – South America
Subclasses KJ-KKZ – Europe
Subclasses KL-KWX – Asia and Eurasia, Africa, Pacific Area, and Antarctica
Subclass KU/KUQ – Law of Australia and New Zealand
Subclass KZ – Law of nations

Class L – Education edit

Subclass L – Education (General)
Subclass LA – History of education
Subclass LB – Theory and practice of education
Subclass LC – Special aspects of education
Subclass LD – Individual institutions – United States
Subclass LE – Individual institutions – America (except United States)
Subclass LF – Individual institutions – Europe
Subclass LG – Individual institutions – Asia, Africa, Indian Ocean islands, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific islands
Subclass LH – College and school magazines and papers
Subclass LJ – Student fraternities and societies, United States
Subclass LT – Textbooks

Class M – Music edit

Subclass M – Music
Subclass ML – Literature on music
Subclass MT – Instruction and study

Class N – Fine Arts edit

Subclass N – Visual Arts
Subclass NA – Architecture
Subclass NB – Sculpture
Subclass NC – Drawing. Design. Illustration
Subclass ND – Painting
Subclass NE – Print media
Subclass NK – Decorative arts
Subclass NX – Arts in general

Class P – Language and Literature edit

The PN-subclass shelf.

Subclass P – Philology. Linguistics
Subclass PA – Greek language and literature. Latin language and literature
Subclass PB – Modern languages. Celtic languages and literature
Subclass PC – Romanic languages
Subclass PD – Germanic languages. Scandinavian languages
Subclass PE – English language
Subclass PF – West Germanic languages
Subclass PG – Slavic languages and literature. Baltic languages. Albanian language
Subclass PH – Uralic languages. Basque language
Subclass PJ – Oriental languages and literatures
Subclass PK – Indo-Iranian languages and literature
Subclass PL – Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania
Subclass PM – Hyperborean, Native American, and artificial languages
Subclass PN – Literature (General)
Subclass PQ – French literature – Italian literature – Spanish literature – Portuguese literature
Subclass PR – English literature
Subclass PS – American literature
Subclass PT – German literature – Dutch literature – Flemish literature since 1830 – Afrikaans literature -Scandinavian literature – Old Norse literature: Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian – Modern Icelandic literature – Faroese literature – Danish literature – Norwegian literature – Swedish literature
Subclass PZ – Fiction and juvenile belles lettres

Class Q – Science edit

Java programming books in the QA subclass.

Class R – Medicine edit

Subclass R – Medicine (General)
Subclass RA – Public aspects of medicine
Subclass RB – Pathology
Subclass RC – Internal medicine
Subclass RD – Surgery
Subclass RE – Ophthalmology
Subclass RF – Otorhinolaryngology
Subclass RG – Gynecology and Obstetrics
Subclass RJ – Pediatrics
Subclass RK – Dentistry
Subclass RL – Dermatology
Subclass RM – Therapeutics. Pharmacology
Subclass RS – Pharmacy and materia medica
Subclass RT – Nursing
Subclass RV – Botanic, Thomsonian, and Eclectic medicine
Subclass RX – Homeopathy
Subclass RZ – Other systems of medicine

Class S – Agriculture edit

Subclass S – Agriculture (General)
Subclass SB – Horticulture. Plant propagation. Plant breeding
Subclass SD – Forestry. Arboriculture. Silviculture
Subclass SF – Animal husbandry. Animal science
Subclass SH – Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling
Subclass SK – Hunting

Class T – Technology edit

Subclass T – Technology (General)
Subclass TA – Engineering Civil engineering (General).
Subclass TC – Hydraulic engineering. Ocean engineering
Subclass TD – Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
Subclass TE – Highway engineering. Roads and pavements
Subclass TF – Railroad engineering and operation
Subclass TG – Bridges
Subclass TH – Building construction
Subclass TJ – Mechanical engineering and machinery
Subclass TK – Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering
Subclass TL – Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics
Subclass TN – Mining engineering. Metallurgy
Subclass TP – Chemical technology
Subclass TR – Photography
Subclass TS – Manufacturing engineering. Mass production
Subclass TT – Handicrafts. Arts and crafts
Subclass TX – Home economics

Class U – Military Science edit

Subclass U – Military science (General)
Subclass UA – Armies: Organization, distribution, military situation
Subclass UB – Military administration
Subclass UC – Military maintenance and transportation
Subclass UD – Infantry
Subclass UE – Cavalry. Armor
Subclass UF – Artillery
Subclass UG – Military engineering. Air forces
Subclass UH – Other military services

Class V – Naval Science edit

Subclass V – Naval science (General)
Subclass VA – Navies: Organization, distribution, naval situation
Subclass VB – Naval administration
Subclass VC – Naval maintenance
Subclass VD – Naval seamen
Subclass VE – Marines
Subclass VF – Naval ordnance
Subclass VG – Minor services of navies
Subclass VK – Navigation. Merchant marine
Subclass VM – Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering

Class Z – Bibliography, Library Science edit

Subclass Z – Books (General). Writing. Paleography. Book industries and trade. Libraries. Bibliography
Subclass ZA – Information resources/materials

Notes edit

^ LCCN also covers authors, which LCC does not. For authors (people), the letter 'n' accompanies the number, and they too define URLs in a parallel catalog, such as "n83160096" and "http://lccn.loc.gov/n83160096 ". (So LCCN may be called alphanumeric.)
^ LCSH too is developed by the Library and assigns alphanumeric IDs. A closer look at this example shows refinements defined in 2004, 2007, and 2009. LCSH: Boarding schools.

References edit

^ ^a ^b ^c Lavallee, Andrew (July 20, 2007). "Discord Over Dewey: A New Library in Arizona Fans a Heated Debate Over What Some Call the 'Googlization' of Libraries". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 25, 2013. Some 95% of U.S. public libraries use Dewey, and nearly all of the others, the OCLC says, use a closely related Library of Congress system.
^ Dittmann, Helena (2000). Learn Library of Congress classification. Internet Archive. Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-3696-9.
^ ^a ^b Hickey, Doralyn J. (1969). "Reviewed work: The Use of the Library of Congress Classification: Proceedings of the Institute on the Use of the Library of Congress Classification Sponsored by the American Library Association, Resources and Technical Services Division, Cataloging and Classification Section, New York City, July 7-9, 1966, Richard H. Schimmelpfeng, C. Donald Cook". The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy. 39 (3): 294–296. doi:10.1086/619784. JSTOR 4306016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "Library of Congress Classification". Retrieved 2022-10-03.
^ "John Russell Young (1840-1899)". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
^ "Herbert Putnam (1861-1955)". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
^ Martel, C (1916). "Remarks on Cataloguing and Classification". Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. 5 (4): 43–5. PMC 234678. PMID 16015800.
^ Andy Sturdevant. "Cracking the spine on Hennepin County Library's many hidden charms". MinnPost, 02/05/14.
^ ^a ^b LaMontagne, Leo E. American Library Classification: With Special Reference to the Library of Congress. Hamden, CT, Shoe String Press. 1961, p. 210.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Library of Congress Classification". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
^ Chan, Lois Mai (1999). A guide to the Library of Congress classification. Lois Mai Chan (5th ed.). Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 1-56308-499-6. OCLC 41211262.
^ Taylor, A. G., & Joudrey, D.N. (2009). The organization of information. 3rd ed. Englewood: Libraries Unlimited.
^ Chan, L. M.(2007). Cataloging and classification: An introduction. 3rd ed. Scarecrow Press.
^ ^a ^b National Library of Canada. "Class FC: a classification for Canadian history" (PDF). PDF publication. National Library of Canada. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
^ ^a ^b Rutherford, D. . Queens University Library. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
^ "A Brief Introduction to the Dewey Decimal Classification". OCLC. Archived from the original on May 3, 2013. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Howard, Sara A.; Knowlton, Steven A. (2018). "Browsing through Bias: The Library of Congress Classification and Subject Headings for African American Studies and LGBTQIA Studies". Library Trends. 67 (1): 74–88. doi:10.1353/lib.2018.0026. hdl:2142/101937. S2CID 69496735 – via Muse.

External links edit

Library of Congress classification outline, loc.gov
Full list of LCC classification schedules, loc.gov
Library of Congress – classification, loc.gov
Cataloging Distribution Services – source of Library of Congress Classification schedules. loc.gov
Classification outline, loc.gov
, geography.about.com (via The Wayback Machine)
How to use LCC to organize a home library, zackgrossbart.com

[authors-12] LCCN also covers authors, which LCC does not. For authors (people), the letter 'n' accompanies the number, and they too define URLs in a parallel catalog, such as "n83160096" and "http://lccn.loc.gov/n83160096 ". (So LCCN may be called alphanumeric.)

[subjects-13] LCSH too is developed by the Library and assigns alphanumeric IDs. A closer look at this example shows refinements defined in 2004, 2007, and 2009. LCSH: Boarding schools.

[DeweyDiscord-1] Lavallee, Andrew (July 20, 2007). "Discord Over Dewey: A New Library in Arizona Fans a Heated Debate Over What Some Call the 'Googlization' of Libraries". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 25, 2013. Some 95% of U.S. public libraries use Dewey, and nearly all of the others, the OCLC says, use a closely related Library of Congress system.

[2] Dittmann, Helena (2000). Learn Library of Congress classification. Internet Archive. Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-3696-9.

[:6-3] Hickey, Doralyn J. (1969). "Reviewed work: The Use of the Library of Congress Classification: Proceedings of the Institute on the Use of the Library of Congress Classification Sponsored by the American Library Association, Resources and Technical Services Division, Cataloging and Classification Section, New York City, July 7-9, 1966, Richard H. Schimmelpfeng, C. Donald Cook". The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy. 39 (3): 294–296. doi:10.1086/619784. JSTOR 4306016.

[:3-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "Library of Congress Classification". Retrieved 2022-10-03.

[5] "John Russell Young (1840-1899)". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-10-04.

[6] "Herbert Putnam (1861-1955)". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-10-04.

[7] Martel, C (1916). "Remarks on Cataloguing and Classification". Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. 5 (4): 43–5. PMC 234678. PMID 16015800.

[8] Andy Sturdevant. "Cracking the spine on Hennepin County Library's many hidden charms". MinnPost, 02/05/14.

[:4-9] LaMontagne, Leo E. American Library Classification: With Special Reference to the Library of Congress. Hamden, CT, Shoe String Press. 1961, p. 210.

[:0-10] "Library of Congress Classification". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2022-10-03.

[11] Chan, Lois Mai (1999). A guide to the Library of Congress classification. Lois Mai Chan (5th ed.). Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 1-56308-499-6. OCLC 41211262.

[14] Taylor, A. G., & Joudrey, D.N. (2009). The organization of information. 3rd ed. Englewood: Libraries Unlimited.

[15] Chan, L. M.(2007). Cataloging and classification: An introduction. 3rd ed. Scarecrow Press.

[:1-16] National Library of Canada. "Class FC: a classification for Canadian history" (PDF). PDF publication. National Library of Canada. Retrieved May 21, 2018.

[:2-17] Rutherford, D. . Queens University Library. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2018.

[18] "A Brief Introduction to the Dewey Decimal Classification". OCLC. Archived from the original on May 3, 2013. Retrieved November 16, 2013.

[:5-19] Howard, Sara A.; Knowlton, Steven A. (2018). "Browsing through Bias: The Library of Congress Classification and Subject Headings for African American Studies and LGBTQIA Studies". Library Trends. 67 (1): 74–88. doi:10.1353/lib.2018.0026. hdl:2142/101937. S2CID 69496735 – via Muse.

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