UK Standard Library Categories

"Note this scheme was originally published as a draft and called e4libraries Subject Category Headings. This scheme was revised by a panel of experts and the new UKSLC scheme is the result of this process. The UKSLC is based on the BIC standard subject categories used in bookshops and by online retailers. The scheme is designed for the public library sector to provide library-oriented category headings applicable across the full range of adult non-fiction, fiction and children's/young adult stock. Many library authorities have adopted categorisation schemes for fiction and non-fiction over the past forty years. The majority of them apply these categories solely at item level to determine shelf display, though a minority also use them to provide a searchable option within the main title-level catalogue record. However, most of these schemes are unique to the authority concerned and rely heavily for their operation on costly and time-consuming staff intervention. Adoption of a scheme of BIC-based standard subject/genre categories, made available to libraries in addition to existing Dewey classifications, offers the opportunity to reduce cost and streamline workflows by automating the categorisation process, and to support further improvements in stock selection, management, discovery and display. (...) At the same time it offers authorities a degree of flexibility in determining item-level shelfmarks, the categories used to organise and display stock in individual locations, allowing them to customise the scheme to meet their specific needs and to integrate it with existing schemes they have already developed. It is very much hoped that UK libraries and their suppliers will adopt UKSLC."