The Practice of Bliss

The second edition of Bliss’s Bibliographic Classification (BC2) has been acclaimed as a modern, faceted scheme that offers short classmarks with enhanced exactitude. Simultaneously, doubts have been voiced about its success because it is new and lacks institutional support. Both praise and skepticism have been expressed in theoretical terms. The present article tests the opinions by case studies. It compares BC2 classmarks with DDC, LCC and UDC classmarks for works about Shakespeare to demonstrate the truth of the claim that BC2 offers greater precision and brevity. It then summarises the results of a survey sent to non-Bliss Cambridge College libraries which substantiates in practical terms reservations about BC2, but shows that evidence of its success where practiced causes it to be regarded sympathetically.