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. 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.
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. For example, class N, Art, has subclasses NA, Architecture; NB, Sculpture, ND, Painting; as well as several other subclasses. Each topic (often referred to as a caption) is assigned a single number or a span of numbers.
From “Library of Congress Classification” https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcc.html
Sawyer and Schow have a series of open shelving, also known as the stacks. Having materials on open shelves, allows you to go directly to the shelves and find the item you want. Open shelving also gives you the opportunity to browse the titles located near your item of interest.
Materials in the libraries are organized by subjects, according to the Library of Congress classification system. This type of organization results in English and non-English titles on similar subjects being located in the same area.
create a proposal to add a new classification or revise an existing one.