35 COMMENTS AND COMUNICATIONS EXTENSIONS AND CORRECTIONS TO THE UDC, 30 (2008) Some arguments against the suitability of Library of Congress Classifcation for Spanish libraries Rosa San Segundo Manuel Department of Library Science and Documentation Carlos III University of Madrid ABSTRACT: This paper introduces the history of library classifcations application in Spanish libraries and discusses the validity of criteria followed in the recent adoption of the Library of Congress Classifcation (LCC) by some Spanish university libraries. The suitability of the scheme for subject indexing and retrieval is analysed contrasting advantages and disadvantages from several viewpoints: practical aspects of implementation, value as a knowledge organization system, efcacy for subject representation and retrieval, user friendliness and adequacy to functionalities required in Web OPACs. From the theoretical perspective, the lack of adherence of LCC to some fundamental canons for building library classifcations defned by Ranganathan is also pointed out. On the overall, the paper argues in favour of decimal classifcation systems. KEYWORDS: LCC, DDC, UDC, Spain 1. The frst implementations of the UDC in Spain in Second Republic The major library development in Spain started with the Second Republic, in 1931 as a part of the Republican government’s programme aimed to national raising literacy level of population in the then predominantly rural Spain. The role of the national library network planned at the time was to support literacy and education eforts and bring culture and knowledge to culturally and educationally deprived parts of the country. This period from 1931 to 1939 was known as the Silver Age of Spanish Culture. Universal Decimal Classifcation (UDC), being the most widely used classifcation in Europe at the time, backed by the universal bibliographic project, was imple- mented in Spanish libraries. This implementation was extended to the large library network created at the request of the Book Interchange and Acquisition Board. The outbreak of the Civil War, in 1936, brought the library development to a halt and the extensive library network created at the request of the Republican government was destroyed, collections classifed by UDC at the time, were burnt, censored and plundered. 1 2. Ofcial adoption of UDC for Spanish libraries in 1939 At the end of the Civil War, in 1939, with the defeat of the Republican government and its departure into exile, General Franco’s new government made it ofcially compulsory to use the UDC to classify the collections in Spanish libraries. The new Government legislated this ofcial implementation of the UDC and drafted the Order of 1939. The new Spanish government of 1939 was closely related to those of Germany and Italy at the time, and the new implementation of the UDC was expected to have great impact in the Spain-Germany-Italy axis. The Order of 29 July, whereby the decimal bibliographical system was implemented in the 1 San Segundo, Rosa (1999) Futura implantación de los distintos sistemas de clasifcación en las bibliotecas del Estado español. In: Les biblioteques i els centres de documentació al segle XXI peca clau de la societat de la informacio, Colegio Of- cial de Bibliotecarios-Documentalistas de Cataluña, ISBN 84-86972-9-4, pp. 507-520. Available at: http://www.cobdc. org/jornades/7JCD/36.pdf.