What is the Library of Congress (LC) System?

The "LC System" was devised by staff at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.. Materials are shelved together by subjects. The classification system uses twenty-one main branches of knowledge signified by letters. These branches are further subdivided by discipline, indicated by additional letters and numbers. [tell me more about what the letter codes stand for]

LC uses letters rather than numbers, like the Dewey Decimal System, to classify knowledge. LC also does not place Fiction and Biography in separate categories. Novels and non-fiction criticism of novels are shelved together. Biographies are shelved by subject relevance. (Examples include biographies of Picasso shelved with the art collection or biographies of George Washington shelved with American History).

       

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