Is Dewey Decimal Classification used at LC?
The Library of Congress does not use the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) to organize any part of its own collections. Rather the Dewey program maintained at the Library serves an outreach function to the Library’s national and international constituencies. The Dewey Decimal Classification is the most widely used library classification in the world, and the Decimal Classification Division’s mission is, on behalf of library users everywhere, to develop, apply, and assist in the use of the DDC. A Dewey editorial office has been maintained at the Library since 1923, and cataloging staff began adding Dewey numbers to bibliographic records (printed cards) for books being processed in the 1930s. Division classifiers now add numbers to approximately 115,000 records each year, in all subject fields, for items in English and the major European languages. These records are distributed through the Cataloging Distribution Service’s MARC delivery services. The editorial staff (the editor and thre
