Administrative Notes: Newsletter of the FDLP

GPO to Provide LC Classification Numbers for Congressional Publications

Beginning on October 1, 2004, the GPO Office of Bibliographic Services will begin to assign Library of Congress classification numbers to Congressional hearings, reports, and documents. The class numbers will appear in GPO cataloging records with MARC coding 050 14, indicating that they are assigned by an agency other than LC.

Access to the LC class numbers will be through record loads, through the online Catalog of Government Publications <http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cgp/index.html>, and through the printed Monthly Catalog. GPO will not add LC classes to the shipping list, because that service would create significant delays in shipping to the depositories. The numbers will not appear on microfiche headers. LC classes will be assigned to current titles, and no retrospective project is planned. GPO remains the national authority for SuDocs classification only, and will continue to assign and maintain those classes.

Assigning the LC classification numbers is being done in response to requests from the depository library community. The numbers will assist those libraries that already integrate Federal documents into their LC-classed collections, and may enable other libraries to do so, if they were previously constrained by lack of technical staff.

After gaining experience with LC classification for Congressionals, GPO will evaluate the possibility of expanding the effort, taking into account the initial experiences and the availability of resources.