William Stetson Merrill
'Code for Classifiers' is a foundational treatise on the principles and practices of book classification within library systems. Written by William Stetson Merrill, this work serves as a practical guide for librarians and catalogers, offering a set of consistent rules to ensure that books are placed logically and helpfully within a collection. Rather than proposing a new classification scheme, the book focuses on the decision-making process-the 'code'-that allows classifiers to apply existing systems like the Dewey Decimal Classification or the Library of Congress Classification with precision and uniformity.The text addresses the various challenges encountered when assigning subject headings and class marks, providing a systematic approach to handling complex or multi-disciplinary works. By emphasizing the principles governing the consistent placing of books, Merrill highlights the importance of intellectual organization in making information accessible to researchers and the public alike. This work is an essential resource for those interested in the history of library science, the development of bibliographic standards, and the enduring logic of knowledge organization. It remains a significant historical document for professional librarians, students of information science, and scholars of book history.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you may see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
