The Library of Congress Classification system assigned to the Bahá'í Faith a range of numbers at BP300-395. The numbers assigned to the Bahá'í Faith in the Library of Congress scheme were not adequate. The staff of the Bahá'í World Centre Library therefore developed an expanded classification for the Bahá'í Faith based on BP300-395. The Bahá'í World Centre Library retained the rough outline of the Library of Congress organization, causing only a small amount of disturbance to the original arrangement of numbers by the Library of Congress. The Bahá'í World Centre Library decided, after testing, to adopt the Library of Congress Classification as the general classification scheme for the Library, and to maintain a special expanded Bahá'í World Centre version of the section on the Bahá'í Faith, using the number BP300-399. For detailed information visit the International Bahá'í Library Web site.
 | BP300-399: Based upon Library of Congress: Introduction |
| BP300-399: Based upon Library of Congress (HTML) |
| BP300-399: Based upon Library of Congress (PDF) |
The Bahá'í World Centre Library developed two adaptations of the standard classifications, one
of which was based upon the Dewey Decimal Classification, patterned after the M200 schedule for Mormonism developed
by the Utah Library Association.
The development of a Dewey-Decimal-based classification scheme for Bahá'í publications was halted
in 1979, when the Bahá'í World Centre Library made the choice to use the Library of Congress classification.
The author, however, completed a draft of a Dewey-based classification for Bahá'í works. The development
of the Bahá'í classification schedule based upon the Dewey Decimal Classification was not intended
merely as an intellectual exercise. Many Bahá'í libraries have been established in schools and communities
where there is little experience with the Library of Congress system. The Dewey-based classification for Bahá'í
materials can serve as an alternative that offers a more familiar style to those institutions and communities.
For detailed information visit the International Bahá'í
Library Web site.
| B200: Based upon Dewey Decimal Classification: Introduction |
| B200: Based upon Dewey Decimal Classification: Schedule (HTML) |
| B200: Based upon Dewey Decimal Classification: Schedule (PDF) |
Mr. Paul Gerard in Australia has developed a completely revised schedule for Dewey Decimal Classification 200
(Religion), which gives a more equal weight to all religions, and provides adequate space for a full treatment
of the Bahá'í Faith. The B200 draft created at the World Centre, was intended to provide a separate
treatment of the Bahá'í Faith, while leaving the rest of Dewey 200 intact. Mr. Gerard's draft schedule
is a complete replacement or "phoenix" schedule for Dewey 200, intended to counterbalance the current
Dewey bias toward Christianity. Mr. Gerard's DDC 200 Phoenix schedule is a work in progress. Revised versions will
be posted from time to time. The current version is for July 2001. Comments are welcome to the network coordinator.
| Phoenix Schedule for Dewey Decimal Classification 200 |
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