Cutter Expansive Classification: Difference between revisions

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== History of the Expansive Classification ==

[[Charles Ammi Cutter]] (1837–1903), inspired by the decimal classification of his contemporary [[Melvil Dewey]], and with Dewey's initial encouragement, developed his own classification scheme for the [[Winchester, Massachusetts]] town library and then the [[Boston AthenaeumAthenæum]],{{r|n=LaMontagne-1961|p=208}} at which he served as librarian for twenty-four years. He began work on it around the year 1880, publishing an overview of the new system in 1882. The same classification would later be used, but with a different notation, also devised by Cutter, at the [[Cary Memorial Library|Cary Library]] in [[Lexington, Massachusetts]].{{r

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Many libraries found this system too detailed and complex for their needs, and Cutter received many requests from librarians at small libraries who wanted the classification adapted for their collections. While numbers and letters are required in large library classifications, small libraries did not need their classification system to be too specific.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Stuart |title=The Library: An Illustrated History |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |year=2009 |pages=205}}</ref> He devised the Expansive Classification in response, to meet the needs of growing libraries, and to address some of the complaints of his critics.<ref>For the Expansive Classification as a response to Cutter's critics, see: {{harvnb|Miksa, Francis L., ed. ''Charles Ammi Cutter: Library Systematizer''. Littleton, CO, Libraries Unlimited. |1977, |p. =58.}}

* For the Expansive Classification as a response to the growing needs of libraries, see {{harvnb|Miksa, above,|1977|p=58}} and also: {{harvnb|LaMontagne, Leo E. ''American Library Classification: With Special Reference to the Library of Congress''. Hamden, CT, Shoe String Press. |1961, |p. =209}}.

* The above issues are also discussed by Cutter in his [https://books.google.com/books?id=L10oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1 ''Expansive Classification: Part I: The First Six Classifications'']. Boston, C. A. {{harvnb|Cutter. |1891–93}}.</ref>
Cutter completed and published an introduction and schedules for the first six classifications of his new system (''Expansive Classification: Part I: The First Six Classifications''),{{r|n=Cutter-1891}} but his work on the seventh was interrupted by his death in 1903.{{r|n=LaMontagne-1961|p=210}}

The Cutter Expansive Classification, although adopted by comparatively few libraries,{{r|n=Winke-2004}} has been called one of the most logical and scholarly of American classifications.{{r

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<blockquote>Cutter produced the best classification of the nineteenth century. While his system was less "scientific" than that of [[J. P. Lesley]], its other key features – notation, specificity, and versatility – make it deserving of the praise it has received.{{r|n=LaMontagne-1961|p=215}}</blockquote>

Its top level divisions served as a basis for the [[Library of Congress classificationClassification]], which also took over some of its features.{{r|n=LaMontagne-1961|p=226}} It did not catch on as did Dewey's system because Cutter died before it was completely finished, making no provision for the kind of development necessary as the bounds of knowledge expanded and scholarly emphases changed throughout the twentieth century.{{r|n=Winke-2004}}

== Structure of the Expansive Classification ==

The Expansive Classification uses seven separate schedules, each designed to be used by libraries of different sizes. After the first, each schedule was an expansion of the previous one,{{r

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and Cutter provided instructions for how a library might change from one expansion to another as it grows.{{r|n=Cutter-1891|pp=21–23}}

== Summary of the Expansive Classification schedules ==

=== First classification ===

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On the third line a capital Y indicates a work about the author or book represented by the first two lines, and a capital E (for English—other letters are used for other languages) indicates a translation into English. If both criticism and translation apply to a single title, the number expands into four lines.

=== Cutter numbers (Cutter codes) ===

{{Expand section|examples and additional citations|date=August 2011}}

One of the features adopted by other systems, including Library of Congress, is the Cutter number or Cutter code. It is an alphanumeric device to code text so that it can be arranged in alphabetical order using the fewest characters. It contains one or two initial letters and Arabic numbers, treated as a decimal. To construct a Cutter number, a cataloguer consults a Cutter table as required by the classification rules. Although Cutter numbers are mostly used for coding the names of authors, the system can be used for titles, subjects, geographic areas, and more.

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