Library of Congress Classification

The Library of Congress classification (LCC) system is the most widely used classification system for maps. LCC is a well-supported standard and is particularly strong in the classification of American material and thematic maps. The Library of Congress, however, does not have a good classification system for countries for which the Library of Congress has few maps or for regions that are not as fully mapped as others.

The Library of Congress classification system is an alpha-numeric system employing letters and numbers. The Schedule G of the LC cartographic section is broadly divided into atlases, globes and maps. Each of these formats are associated with blocks of numbers such as G1000.3-3122 for atlases, G3160-3182 for globes, and G3190-9999 for maps. The maps of the universe, the world, and the continents are further classified as general maps, thematic maps, and regional or natural features maps (Shawa, Tserin Wangyal, 1998, http://www.princeton.edu/~shawatw/classifi.html).

As the Schedule G classification system is based on political boundaries, this creates problems when boundaries are changed due to countries breaking up into separate political entries. For example, Moscow used to be classified under the Soviet Union (G7004.M6), but now it is classified under Russia (G7064.M7). Another issue with LCC concerns the classification of regions. The Library of Congress uses the name authority of the United States Board on Geographic Names for geographic names. In cases where the Board has not established a regional geographic name for a particular place, the Library of Congress must classify the region using non-controlled vocabulary, which complicates retrieval (Shawa, Tserin Wangyal)

Within the Library of Congress classification system, maps are further classified on the basis of topics. They are broadly divided into 17 classes, with a different letter for each group:

A Special Categories
B Mathematical geography
C Physical Sciences
D Biogeography
E Human and cultural geography. Anthropogeography. Human ecology.
F Political geography.
G Economic geography
H Mines and mineral resources
J Agriculture
K Forests and forestry
L Aquatic biological resources
M Manufacturing and processing
N Technology. Engineering. Public Works.
P Transportation and communication
Q Commerce and trade. Finance
R Military and naval geography.
S Historical Geography

A subject cutter can be added after another cutter for political or geographic subdivisions, resulting in a total of three cutters for the map. A geographic cutter never follows a subject cutter.

Examples
Here is the process by which a Library of Congress call number is developed for a Rainfall Map of Wenatchee National Forest:
oooooo1) Classify under state. Wenatchee National Forest is in Washington State (G4282)
oooooo2) Add a cutter number for Wenatchee National Forest (.W4)
oooooo3) Further classify under topic; rainfall under C Physical Sciences (C883)
oooooo4) Thus this map will be cuttered as G4382 .W4C883
If this map had a date of a situation or the date of publication of the map and the cutter for the statement of responsibility, it would have been used to complete the call number.


"Library of Congress Classification" Bibliography

Shawa, Tserin Wangyal. The Library of Congress Classification Scheme for Cartographic Materials. 1998. Accessed March 14, 2005. <http://www.princeton.edu/~shawatw/classifi.html>.

 
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