Bliss bibliographic classification

The Bliss bibliographic classification (BC) is a library classification system that was created by Henry E. Bliss (1870–1955) and published in four volumes between 1940 and 1953. Although originally devised in the United States, it was more commonly adopted by British libraries. A second edition of the system (BC2) has been developed in Britain since 1977.

Henry E. Bliss began working on the Bliss Classification system while working at the City College of New York Library as Assistant Librarian. He was a critic of Melvil Dewey's work with the Dewey Decimal System and believed that organization of titles needed to be done with an intellectual mind frame. Being overly pragmatic or simply alphabetical, would be inadequate. In fact, Bliss is the only theorist who created an organizational scheme based on societal needs. Bliss wanted a classification system that would provide distinct rules yet still be adaptable to whatever kind of collection a library might have, as different libraries have different needs. His solution was the concept of "alternative location," in which a particular subject could be put in more than one place, as long as the library made a specific choice and used it consistently.

Bliss discusses his theories and basis of organization for the Bliss Classification for the first time in his 1910 article, "A Modern Classification for Libraries, with Simple Notation, Mnemonics, and Alternatives". This publication followed his 1908 reclassification of the City College collection. His work, Organization of Knowledge and the System of the Sciences was published in four volumes between 1940 and 1953.

The four broad underlying policies of the BC system are:

Bliss deliberately avoided the use of the decimal point because of his objection to Dewey's system. Instead he used capital and lower-case letters, numerals, and every typographical symbol available on his extensive and somewhat eccentric typewriter.

In 1967 the Bliss Classification Association was formed. Its first publication was the Abridged Bliss Classification (ABC), intended for school libraries. In 1977 it began to publish and maintain a revised version of Bliss's system, the Bliss Bibliographic Classification (Second Edition) or BC2. This retains only the broad outlines of Bliss's scheme, replacing most of the detailed notation with a new scheme based on the principles of faceted classification. 15 of approximately 28 volumes of schedules have so far been published. A revision of this nature has been considered by some to be a completely new system.

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