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Classification Manual (Revised July 1993)
Introduction [ Classification Manual Home | Table of Contents ] The Superintendent of Documents classification system was developed in the Library of the Government Printing Office between 1895 and 1903. It was first described in October 1903 by William Leander Post, then in charge of the Library, in the preface to List of Publications of the Agriculture Department 1862-1902, Department List No.1, issued by the Superintendent of Documents in 1904. Mr. Post gives credit for the foundation of the system (classification by governmental author) to Miss Adelaide R. Hasse, who used government organization authorship to assign classification numbers to a List of Publications of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1841 to June 30, 1895. Miss Hasse prepared the list while assistant librarian in the Los Angeles Public Library. It was published by the Department of Agriculture in 1896 as its Library Bulletin No. 9. This system has expanded as the Federal Government has grown. Though still retaining the principles upon which it is based, it has changed in some details and methods of use. Because the classification system is based on the current organizational status of the government author, it changes as the organizational structure of the Federal Government changes. Thus, publications of some issuing agencies may be located in as many as three different places in the system. Despite this functional weakness, it has remained a workable arrangement for uniquely identifying publications issued by the United States Government. The Superintendent of Documents classification system has been used for nearly 100 years to identify public documents which were distributed to depository libraries and described in the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications. The system is also used to arrange the documents collections in most depository libraries, as well as in the documents collection of the National Archives. The purpose of this edition of the Classification Manual is to set forth the current policies in effect for assigning Superintendent of Documents classification numbers in the U.S. Government Printing Office. The user of this manual should be aware that many policies and practices have changed, sometimes radically, over the years. Where possible, the manual indicates earlier policies that resulted in quite different class numbers for some groups of documents. |