History of the
Library of Congress
Classification
Kayla Chandler
Emporia State University
LI 839 History of Libraries
History of the
Library of Congress Classification
Presentation Outline
• Library of
Congress “The Library of Congress
• LCC Origins Classification was
• System Summary developed at the turn of the
century to deal with the
• LCC Revisions ever-growing size of the
• LCC Analysis Library of Congress‟s
• References collection.” (Ruben, 2004)
Library of Congress
• An act of Congress in 1800 established the
Library of Congress as a reference library
Congressional use only.
• Housed in the Capitol until August 1814, the
original library was burned and pillaged by
invading British troops.
• Retired President Thomas Jefferson quickly
presented his extensive personal library,
considered one of the best in the Nation, as a
replacement.
Library of Congress
• “Jefferson had spent 50 years accumulating books, „putting by
everything which related to America, and indeed whatever
was rare and valuable in every science‟.” (LOC History,
2006)
• “In offering his collection to Congress, Jefferson anticipated
controversy over the nature of his collection, which included
books in foreign languages and volumes of philosophy,
science, literature, and other topics not normally viewed as
part of a legislative library. He wrote, „I do not know that it
contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to
exclude from their collection; there is, in fact, no subject to
which a Member of Congress may not have occasion to
refer.‟” (LOC History, 2006)
Library of Congress
• “The Jeffersonian concept of universality, the belief that all
subjects are important to the library of the American
legislature, is the philosophy and rationale behind the
comprehensive collecting policies of today's Library of
Congress” (LOC History, 2006)
• “Ainsworth Rand Spofford, Librarian of Congress from 1864
to 1897, applied Jefferson's philosophy on a grand scale and
built the Library into a national institution. Spofford was
responsible for the copyright law of 1870, which required all
copyright applicants to send to the Library two copies of their
work.” (LOC History, 2006)
Library of Congress
• Limited shelf space at the capitol combined with
the influx of materials after the 1870 copyright
law led Spofford to request and attain new
facilities from Congress.
• “When the Library of Congress building opened
its doors to the public on November 1, 1897, it
was hailed as a glorious national monument and
"the largest, the costliest, and the safest" library
building in the world.” (LOC History, 2006)
Library of Congress
• “Today's Library of Congress is an unparalleled
world resource. The collection of more than 130
million items includes more than 29 million
cataloged books and other print materials in 460
languages; more than 58 million manuscripts; the
largest rare book collection in North America; and
the world's largest collection of legal materials,
films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings.”
(LOC History, 2006)
LCC Origins
• “The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) is
a classification system that was first developed in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to
organize and arrange the book collections of the
Library of Congress.” (LOC Classification, 2006)
• “Although DDC and other existing classification
systems influenced the development of LC
Classification, the system is unique and was
developed for the practical purposes of organizing
and accessing the Library of Congress collection.”
System Summary
• “The system divides all knowledge into twenty-
one basic classes, each identified by a single letter
of the alphabet. Most of these alphabetical classes
are further divided into more specific subclasses,
identified by two-letter, or occasionally three-
letter, combinations.” (LOC Classification, 2006)
• “LC Classification is an alpha-numeric system.
Each class number begins with one to three letters
followed by one to four integers. Decimals can be
used to expand the class. The letters represent the
main class and subclass divisions followed by the
integers that further subordinate the discipline.”
System Summary
A General Works K Law
B Philosophy, Psychology, Religion L Education
C Auxiliary sciences of history M Music
D History of Europe, Asia, Africa N Fine arts
(Eastern Hemisphere)
P Languages and literatures
E-F History of the Americas
Q Science
(Western Hemisphere)
R Medicine
G Geography, Anthropology, Recreation
H Social sciences S Agriculture
J Political science T Technology
U Military science
V Naval science
Z Library science, bibliography
System Summary
• “Each subclass includes a loosely hierarchical arrangement of the
topics pertinent to the subclass, going from the general to the more
specific. Individual topics are often broken down by specific
places, time periods, or bibliographic forms.” (LOC Classification,
2006)
• “Relationships among topics in LCC are shown not by the numbers
that are assigned to them, but by indenting subtopics under the
larger topics that they are a part of, much like an outline. In this
respect, it is different from more strictly hierarchical classification
systems, such as the Dewey Decimal Classification, where
hierarchical relationships among topics are shown by numbers that
can be continuously subdivided.” (LOC Classification, 2006)
System Summary
• ”In the Library of Congress classification system a
publication date is always added to the end of the call number.
Older call numbers without dates do exist, but the current
policy is to add a date.
Occasionally there will be a letter at the end of the date.
The letter "a" means the work is a photocopy of the original
bearing that publication date. The letter "z" indicates that the
date of publication is estimated to be in a particular century or
decade.” (Stump and Torgerson, 2004)
• “Over the course of the twentieth century, the system was
adopted for use by other libraries as well, especially large
academic libraries in the United States. It is currently one of
the most widely used library classification systems in the
world.” (LOC Classification, 2006)
LCC Revisions
• “The Library's Cataloging Policy and Support Office maintains and
develops the system, posting weekly lists of updates on its Web
site.” (LOC Classification, 2006)
• “The full text of LCC is distributed by the Library's Cataloging
Distribution Service in various forms:
• 41 printed volumes (called schedules), which may be purchased individually
or as a set
• World Wide Web access via Classification Web, an online product that
includes not only LCC but also the text of Library of Congress Subject
Headings (LCSH)
• A full set of LCC records in MARC 21 or MARCXML format, as well as
subscriptions to a weekly update service
• A detailed outline of LCC is available on the World Wide Web, and may
also be purchased in printed form from CDS.” (LOC Classification, 2006)
LCC Analysis
• Criticisms of the LCC often note predominance of Western
values and Western classification issues when discussing the
use of LCC globally.
• Difficulties also arise with what has become known as
“fringe” cataloging. This is primarily a result of time lag
required in the creation of subject headings. An example is
what often occurs when something unique and notable
happens and a mass of materials are written regarding it, but
the Library of Congress may not have created a classification
for the subject matter. In this instance a cataloger might put
these items in the general collection system until a better
subject heading is created.
LCC Analysis
• Proponents of the LCC system often commend it as very
effective in organizing large collections into a browse-able
research oriented presentation.
• In addition, LCC‟s flexibility allows for subject headings to
be added as new acquisitions warrant them (there are 8000
headings added per year).
• LC Classification also has more „economical‟ notation than
Dewey Decimal Classification whose numbers for narrow
topics can be very large/cumbersome.
• There is an almost infinite number of combinations of
headings and subheading, allowing catalogers to find a way to
classify all materials.
References
Ruben, R. (2004) Foundations of Library and Information Science
(2nd ed.). New York: Neal-Schuman .
Stump, S. and Torgerson, R. (2004). The basics of LC and Dewey.
Mississippi Libraries, 68 (2), 43-45.
Library of Congress Website
of 6/19/06
Classification: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcc.html as
History: http://www.loc.gov/about/history as of 6/29/06