ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

News from the Sections

ART SUBSECTION

The fourth edition of the Class N, Fine Arts, Library of Congress Classification, has appeared this fall. Thanks to the work of William B. Walker, librarian of the National Collection of Fine Arts/National Portrait Gallery Library and vice-chairman of the Art Subsection, this new issue represents not only an incorporation of all additions and changes made since the third edition up to October 1969, but also a thoroughgoing revision. Perhaps the most striking innovations of this revision are the regrouping of numbers for similar types of publications which had heretofore been dispersed in several places (e.g. works on art collectors and patrons have been brought closer to material on private collections), and the combining, in the same numerical sequence, of works on the history of art in a particular medium with books of reproductions of works in the same medium. In all cases where class numbers are no longer used by the Library of Congress, they have been parenthesized for continued use by other libraries which may not wish to adopt these changes, and appropriate references have been made. The task of updating the schedules and increasing their comprehensiveness will reap many rewards. A new subclass NX has been added, dealing with the arts in general, including literature and the performing arts as well as the visual arts. The geographic tables which can be applied throughout the schedule have been updated to reflect the current jurisdictional situation. The edition has been printed on one side of the page only, thereby providing a suitable format for libraries using the schedule to make annotations, punch the pages for a looseleaf binder, and insert pages from the LC Classification-Additions and Changes for updating. Copies may be obtained from the Card Division, Library of Congress, Building 159, Navy Yard Annex, Washington, D.C. 20541, at $3.00 a copy.