the cutter expansive classification system is a library classification system devised by charles ammi cutter. the system was the basis for the top categories of the library of congress classification.lamontagne, leo e. american library classification: with special reference to the library of congress. hamden, ct, shoe string press. 1961, p. 226. ==history of the expansive classification== charles ammi cutter (1837&ndash;1903), inspired by the decimal classification of his contemporary melvil dewey, and with dewey's initial encouragement, developed his own classification scheme for the winchester town library and then the boston athenaeum,lamontagne, leo e. american library classification: with special reference to the library of congress. hamden, ct, shoe string press. 1961, p. 208. at which he served as librarian for twenty-four years. he began work on it around the year 1880, publishing an overview of the new system in 1882. the same classification would later be used, but with a different notation, also devised by cutter, at the cary library in lexington.cutter, c. a. expansive classification: part i: the first six classifications. boston, c. a. cutter. 1891â93, p. 1. many libraries found this system too detailed and complex for their needs, and cutter received many requests from librarians at small libraries who wanted the classification adapted for their collections. he devised the expansive classification in response, to meet the needs of growing libraries, and to address some of the complaints of his critics .for the expansive classification as a response to cutter's critics, see: miksa, francis l., ed. charles ammi cutter: library systematizer". littleton, co, libraries unlimited. 1977, p. 58. * for the expansive classification as a response to the growing needs of libraries, see miksa, above, and also: lamontagne, leo e. american library classification: with special reference to the library of congress. hamden, ct, shoe string press. 1961, p. 209. * the above issues are also discussed by cutter in his expansive classification: part i: the first six classifications. boston, c. a. cutter. 1891â93. cutter completed and published an introduction and schedules for the first six classifications of his new system (expansive classification: part i: the first six classifications), but his work on the seventh was interrupted by his death in 1903.lamontagne, leo e. american library classification: with special reference to the library of congress. hamden, ct, shoe string press. 1961, p. 210. the cutter expansive classification, although adopted by comparatively few libraries, mostly in new england, has been called one of the most logical and scholarly of american 
Knowledge_representation Library_cataloging_and_classification