parts of the world. During the period 1897-98 the Librarian made a
study of existing classification schemes and came to the conclusion
that, since the Library of Congress was to serve a rather unique
purpose and was particularly strong in certain subjects, a special
scheme should be developed for it. In its main classes the new
scheme followed the Expansive Classification of C. A. Cutter.
The classifiers at the Library of Congress had no intention of
setting up an ideal organisation of knowledge. They aimed simply
at solving the problems of their library, bringing together subjects
most closely allied from their readers' point of view and linking
other related subjects by cross references. The schedules were
developed by classifiers and subject specialists working with the
books to be classified actually in hand. There is no attempt to pro
duce a uniform method of subdivision throughout the scheme;
subjects are divided chronologically, geographically, alphabetically
or by form according to the classifier's conception of the users'
requirements.
3.4.2 Schedules of the Library of Congress Classification have
appeared regularly in printed form over a period of 65 years.
The first to be completed was the schedule for Bibliography and
Library Science which was adopted for the Library in 1898 and
printed in 1902. The process of compiling the classification has not
yet been completed; the schedule for law, for example, has not
yet appeared. Others have gone through several editions. There
is no index to the whole classification but each class has a very full
index. The numbering system used is capital letters for main classes
with a second capital letter to mark the main divisions. For further
sub-division an arabic number, used in ordinary running sequence
but capable of being expanded decimally if necessary, is added.
3.4.3 Because of the unusual characteristics of the scheme, many
of its users have found it necessary to introduce their own modi
fications. The British Library of Political and Economic Science
uses an adaption which is in effect Library of Congress divisions
with decimal notation. The British Ministry of Housing and Local
Government uses the scheme together with expanded schedules
for city planning produced by Harvard University.
3.5 Research and other techniques
3.5.1 The main weakness of classification schemes covering all
knowledge has been the length of the classification numbers and
their failure to bring together subjects which, as far as a particular
profession is concerned, are related. Research is currently in progress
which may ultimately produce a classification scheme based on
fundamental concepts instead of on traditional disciplinary headings.
The Classification Research Group in the UK has been active in
this field for some years, as has Ejnar S. Wahlin whose work is
supported by the Swedish Council for Building Research. Wahlin's
scheme is now quite detailed in the building field and has been
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