Henry E. Bliss Develops the Bliss Bibliographic Classification

In 1929 Henry Evelyn Bliss, then Associate Librarian of the College of the City of New York, issued The Organization of Knowledge and the System of the Sciences. This work, with an introduction by philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey, was the result of decades of study of knowledge organization. Part IV was Bliss's "A Historical Survey of Systems of Knowledge," This included Bliss's critique of prior systems.

In 1933 Bliss issued The Organization of Knowledge in Libraries and the Subject-Approach to Books (New York: H.W. Wilson). This work applied ideas developed more academically in his 1929 work to specific problems in modern libraries.

In 1935 Bliss extended his previous research with A System of Bibliographic Classification (New York: H.W. Wilson) in which he outlined his proposed system in detail.

Between 1940 and 1953 Bliss published his full library classification system, as A Bibliographic Classification, Extended by Systematic Auxiliary Schedules for Composite Specification (4 vols. New York: H.W. Wilson). The system was mainly adapted by various British libraries who belong to the Bliss Classification Association.

"What is the Bibliographic Classification?

The Bibliographic Classification (BC2 or Bliss) is the leading example of a fully faceted classification scheme. It provides a detailed classification for use in libraries and information services of all kinds, having a broad and detailed structure and order.

The vocabulary in each class is comprehensive and complemented by an exceptionally brief faceted notation considering the detail available, providing indexing to any depth the classifier wishes.

The structure of the subject within each class is clearly and simply laid out with rules provided for the quick and consistent placing of any item. A thorough A-Z index is provided in each volume. Users can access a subject catalogue record via any part of the whole, depending upon the primary interest of the user.

BC1

The Classification (known as BC) was originally devised by Henry Evelyn Bliss and was first published in four volumes in the USA between 1940 and 1953. Bliss stated that one of the purposes of the Classification was to "demonstrate that a coherent and comprehensive system, based on the logical principles of classification and consistent with the systems of science and education, may be available to services in libraries, "to aid revision ... of long established ... classifications" and to provide an "adaptable, efficient and economical classification, notation and index." A fundamental principle is the idea of subordination - each specific subject is subordinated to the appropriate general one. This version of the classification is now known as BC1.

BC1 was first applied in broad outline at the College of the City of New York (where Bliss was librarian) in 1902. The full scheme followed the publication of two massive theoretical works on the organization of knowledge. Its main feature was the carefully designed main class order, reflecting the Comptean principle of gradation in speciality. Work on a radical revision of BC1, incorporating the great advances in logical facet analysis initiated by Ranganathan and developed by the Classification Research Group in Britain, began in the early 1970s" (http://www.blissclassification.org.uk/bchist.shtml, accessed 08-21-2016).