ABSTRACT
Henry Evelyn Bliss's original classification had many synthetic features, but was essentially enumerative in structure, and chiefly notable for the care taken over the order of classes. This chapter describes three major general classification schemes: Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), its offspring Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), and Library of Congress Classification (LCC). The use of DDC in the British National Bibliography has been important in establishing DDC in British libraries. The schedules and notation are largely hierarchical, though hierarchies are less clearly indicated than in DDC. Since 1992 all rights and responsibilities for UDC have been vested in the UDC Consortium, representing various international and national organizations. The setting up of the UDC Consortium, together with the machine-readable Master Reference File, can be seen as measures to streamline the revision process. The chapter discusses two other schemes: Bibliographic Classification and Colon Classification, because of their influence on theory and practice.
