Library of Congress Classification

The Library of Congress (LC) classification is a system of library classification called developed by the Library of Congress. It is used by most research and university libraries in the U.S. (and several other countries), although most public libraries continue to use the Dewey decimal system.

Originally developed by Herbert Putnam in 1897. It was influenced by Cutter Expansive Classification and Dewey Decimal Classification, designed for the use by the Library of Congress. It has been criticized as lacking a sound theoretical basis; many of the classification decisions were driven by the particular praticial needs of that library, rather than considerations of rationality. In particular, the classification often shows bias towards the United States and towards Christianity.

Although it divides subjects into broad categories, it is essentially enumerative in nature.

See Library of Congress catalogue scheme for an attempt to organize Wikipedia according to that scheme.

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