Finding Books with the Library of Congress Classification System

Welcome to the Library of Congress Classification Guide. This guide is intended for use by College of Staten Island faculty, staff, and students who want to learn more about how our collection is cataloged and arranged. In addition to information on the history and mechanisms of the Library of Congress of Classification System, this guide will also explain how the College of Staten Island Library organizes their collection.

The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) system was developed in 1897 by James C.M. Hanson, then Head of the Catalog Division at the Library of Congress, and Charles Martel, then Chief Classifier at the Library of Congress. Building on the basic concepts of the Dewey Decimal System and incorporating aspects of the Cutter Expansive Classification System, LCC consists of 21 different subject classifications, all corresponding to a letter of the alphabet. For example M is for music and N is for fine arts.

While the Library of Congress Classification System was created a long time ago, it is still used to this day. Due to this, many aspects of LCC are outdated, however libraries are not able to switch over to a newer system because it would cost too much. To learn more about critical approaches to the Library of Congress Classification system and the efforts librarians have made to update the system, please visit the "Additional Help" page.