List of alternate classifications

Most libraries in the U.S. and Canada use either LCC (the Library of Congress Classification) or DDC (the Dewey Decimal Classification). For those who are interested in moving away from Dewey (“Ditching Dewey”), here’s an informal list of alternate classifications worth exploring:

Dewey adaptations

• • Adapted Dewey System (direct link to download) by Kelsey Bogan
  • Glades
    • implemented by Darien Library in Darien, IL and Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York City
  • Marketplace
    • implemented by Nyack Library in New York, which later went back to Dewey (read more about that in this blog post and this Abandoning the Dewey Decimal System in Public Libraries article)

BISAC and BISAC adaptations

• • BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications), maintained by nonprofit Book Industry Study Group
    • BISAC unmodified has been implemented by Albany Public Library in New York (read more at this news article and newsletter article) and Frankfort Public Library District in Illinois (article)
  • modified BISAC implemented by Milledgeville Public Library in Illinois
  • Buchter Classification System
    • implemented by St. Vrain Valley School District in Colorado
    • news article
  • Browse Method
    • implemented by Cumberland Library in Rhode Island
  • ShelfLogic
    • implemented by the Maricopa County Library District in Arizona
  • WordThink Classification System
    • implemented by AnyThink Library System in Colorado

Other classifications

• Genre Solutions from Follett
• Metis Classification System
• Monarch Method (no longer being updated, but find the website at the Internet Archive)
• unnamed genrefication implemented by Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

Reading list about ditching Dewey:

• Dewey-free Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey-free_classification
• Abandoning the Dewey Decimal System in Public Libraries by Erin Redihan (2020), Public Library Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/01616846.2020.1763755