The Putnam Classification System is a

library classification A library classification is a system of organization of knowledge by which library resources are arranged and ordered systematically. Library classifications are a notational system that represents the order of topics in the classification and al ...

system developed by George Herbert Putnam. Putnam was the librarian at the Minneapolis Athenaeum in 1887. When that became the Minneapolis Public Library, Putnam wanted a way to democratize the collection and make it available to the public. He developed a handwritten system of classification, dividing the books into categories and subcategories. He even came up with uniform handwriting examples. The letters were written on the spine of the books in white paint. The system for shelving is in a zigzag pattern. The system is still in use in parts of the

Hennepin County Library Hennepin County Library is a public library system serving Hennepin County, Minnesota, US. The current iteration of Hennepin County Library was formed by the merger of urban Minneapolis Public Library and suburban Hennepin County Library on Ja ...

.Andy Sturdevant

''

MinnPost ''MinnPost'' is a nonprofit online newspaper in Minneapolis, founded in 2007, with a focus on Minnesota news. Funding ''MinnPosts initial funding of $850,000 came from four families: John and Sage Cowles, Lee Lynch and Terry Saario, Joel and ...

'', 02/05/14. Putnam went on to become the Librarian of Congress, where he retooled his system and developed the current

Library of Congress Classification The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) is a system of library classification developed by the Library of Congress in the United States, which can be used for shelving books in a library. LCC is mainly used by large research and academic librar ...

system.

External links

Complete text of ''System of classification, index and scheme for numbering books''.
Printed by the Minneapolis Public Library in 1889.

References

{{Library classification systems Library cataloging and classification