Library of Congress Classification System

(thing) by viterbiSearcher (7.2 mon) (print) ? (I like it!) 2 C!s Tue May 02 2000 at 1:05:23

An ontology for classification of works in a library. Developed by the Library of Congress for the purposes of classifying it's collections and for producing a linear ordering (i.e. a sequence in which the books could be put on the shelves).

The classification system is fundamentally biased towards the mores of the period in which it was created, notice for example that Christianity has 5 times the space of Judaism, despite Judaism having an older and (arguably) richer history.

Notice also that many things are Sciences but that Science is distinct in some unspecified way.

The Library of Congress website explaining the Library of Congress Classification System is at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html

legbagede: the Library of Congress Classification System was devised at the turn of the century by the Library of Congress to classify it's documents. It avoids some of the mistakes of the earlier Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index is scaling up better in unexpected dimensions.

More info at:http://lcweb.loc.gov/loc/legacy/loc.html

The way the Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index was devised was by taking a snapshot of the courses taught at a random university (Melvil Dewey's Amherst College)

(thing) by novalis (1.2 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Tue May 02 2000 at 1:27:07

The nice thing about the Library of Congress system is that religion is filed under BS :)

Also, it's not unreasonable to give Christianity a bigger namespace than Judaism. There are more flavors of Christianity, and there is a higher volume of scholarship - it doesn't reflect religious bias, it's just the way things are.

(thing) by legbagede (1.3 d) (print) ? (I like it!) 2 C!s Mon Aug 21 2000 at 18:58:26

Please don't ask about how this actually works, just know, in your confused and wayward heart, that the subject you're searching the stacks desperately for, in whichever library you're in, falls somewhere into this Byzantine scheme conceived by sick Victorian-era library people (unless its Dewey, in which cases its another twisted bit of taxonomy all together):

A-- General Works & Theses
AE-- Encyclopedias (General)
AI-- Indexes (General)
AY-- Yearbooks, Almanacs, Directories

B-- Philosophy, Psychology, Religion
B-BD-- Philosophy, Logic
BF-- Psychology
BH-BJ-- Aesthetics, Ethics
BL-BX-- Religion

C-- Auxiliary Sciences of History
CB-- History of Civilization and Culture (General)
CC-- Archaeology (General)
CT-- Biography (General)

D-- History: General and all areas except North & South America
DA-DR-- England and Europe
DS-- Asia
DT-- Africa
DU-- Oceania (South Seas)

E-- History: United States

F-- History: US Local History, Canada, South America

G-- Geography, Anthropology, Recreation
G-GF-- Geography, Oceanography
GN-GT-- Anthropology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Folklore
GV-- Recreation, Physical Education, Dance

H-- Social Sciences (General)
HB-HC-- Economics
HD-- Management, Land Use, Industry, Labor
HE-- Transportation, Broadcasting
HF-- Commerce, Marketing, Accounting
HG-- Finance, Insurance, Investments
HJ-- Government Finance
HM-HX-- Sociology

J-- Political Sciences
J-- Official Documents
JC-- Political Theory
JF-- Constitutional History and Administration
JK-JO-- Government of Countries
JS-- Local Government
JX-- International Law

K-- Law
KF-- Law of the United States

L-- Education
LB-LC-- Theory and Practice of Education
LT-- Teaching Materials: grades K-12

M-- Music
M-- Music Scores
ML-- Literature of Music
MT-- Music Instruction and Study

N-- Fine Arts
NA-- Architecture
NB-NK-- Sculpture, Drawing, Painting, Printmaking
NK-- Decorative Arts, Crafts, Decoration and Ornament

P-- Language and Literature
P-- Philology and Linguistics
PA-- Classical Language and Literature
PB-PH-- European Languages
PJ-PL-- Oriental and Asian Language and Literature
PM-- American Indian Language and Literature
PN-- Literary History and Collections (Includes all the performing arts)
PR-- English Literature
PS-- American Literature
PT-- Germanic Literature

Q-- Science (General)
QA-- Mathematics, Computer Science
QB-- Astronomy
QC-- Physics
QD-- Chemistry
QE-- Geology
QH-- Natural History]
QK-- Botany
QL-- Zoology
QM-- Human Anatomy
QP-- Physiology
QR-- Microbiology

R-- Medicine

S-- Agriculture (Plant and Animal Husbandry)

T-- Technology (TK Computing & Software)
TA-TN-- Engineering (Structural, Civic, Mechanical, Aeronautics (TL), etc.)

U-- Military Science

V-- Naval Science

Z-- History of Books, Bibliography, Library Science

printable version
chaos

Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index	Paradoxes in Classification Systems	Library of Congress Subject Headings	ontology
The Faceted Television Episode Guide-O-Matic Classification Scheme	ACM Classification Scheme	How to organize your hard drive	classification system
Library of Congress	cataloging philosophy	bs	cataloger
Cutter number	ISBN	Judaism	Christianity
Title Wave	Catalog record	Cataloging	Superintendent of Documents
University of Chicago	Shelving	The Mysteries of Harris Burdick	Conspectus

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