Comparative Religion: Collection Guidelines

These are the guidelines by which materials are purchased for the religious studies collection of the UW Libraries (Seattle Campus).  For questions or more information, please contact the Comparative Religion Librarian.

Image: "Candles" by Mohammad Khedmati (Creative Commons license)

Comparative Religion is an interdisciplinary study of religious thought and expression as manifested in various cultures and time periods.  The study of religion may encompass a variety of approaches, including historical, textual, anthropological, philosophical, psychological, and sociological.

Library of Congress Classification (LC):

• Religion is classified in the BL-BX schedule.
• Religion comes into other schedules as the disciplines touch on it, e.g, ethnology GN, English literature PR, art N or music M.
• Certain regional history schedules are also particularly rich in religious materials, e.g., Islam and Judaism in the DS series.
• Z5051- 8999, subject and personal bibliography.

Dewey Decimal Classification:

• The primary classification number for religion is 200.
• Topics related to religion may be found in other classification numbers, e.g., 300s for the social sciences, 700s for religious art and music.