Journal of Educational Media & Library Sciences, 41 1 (September 2003) 1-22 1 Classification for Chinese Libraries (CCL): Histories, Accomplishments, Problems and Its Comparisons Introduction Classification, broadly defined, is the act of organizing the universe of knowledge into some systematic order. It had been considered the most fun- damental activity of the human mind. 1 Classification begins with the uni- verse of knowledge as a whole and divides it into successive stages of classes and subclasses, with a certain characteristic as the basis for each stage. The progress is from the general to the specific, forming a hierarchical structure. The development of library classification was based on the logical and philosophical principles of classification. The act of library classification has been defined as the systematic arrangement by subject of books and other material on shelves or of catalogue and index entries in the manner which is most useful to those who read or who seek a definite piece of infor- mation. 2 As a shelving device and a tool of organizing bibliographic entries, a library classification schedule groups all works of the same kind together in a systematic manner, and helps users identify and locate the works through call numbers. A good, easy-to-use library classification has Abstract China has a long history in library classifications, although modern classifications did not emerge until one hundred years ago when the Western classifications were intro- duced into the country. The Classification for Chinese Libraries (CCL) was developed after years of collective work. The purposes of this article are to review the ancient history and modern efforts in developing Chinese library classifications, examine the organizations, accomplishments and problems of the CCL especially in the areas of philosophy and social sciences, and compare the CCL with the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) in terms of their structures. Keywords : Classification schemes; Classification & management; Technical services; Chinese information storage & retrieval; China; History Wenxian Zhang Associate Professor & Head of Archives & Special Collections Olin Library, Rollins College Winter Park, Florida, U.S.A. E-mail : wzhang@rollins. edu