Remarks on Law Library Classification

Abstract

"Classification, in library terminology, means not only subdividing a collection into appropriate groups, but assigning to each volume an individual, duplicated call number which indicates the group to which it belongs and the place within that group, in relation to other books, that it should occupy. This call number' appears both upon the back of the book and upon the cards for it in the catalogue. That these things may be done, a classification scheme must be in the hands of the cataloguers. Since no generally accepted scheme for law libraries exists, it was necessary to make our own scheme. This was done by the librarian, assisted by the chief of the cataloguing department, members of the department, and the assistant librarian. The schedules, first outlined in January, 1930, have nearly all been completed, and the scheme is now in daily use in this library. It is applied to all accessions, and to old books as fast as they are recatalogued. The process by which a unique call number made up of several symbols is constructed for each book is too technical and complicated to be explained here, but some general description of the scheme of classification, followed by lists of the chief symbols used will assist in the intelligent use of the catalogue.