Q 01/05

Which system, first published in 1876, sorts library books into ten main classes?

A) Library of Congress Classification

B) Universal Decimal Classification

C) Dewey Decimal Classification

D) Colon Classification

Answer · why

C) Dewey Decimal Classification

Each of the ten classes splits into ten divisions and each of those into ten sections, and by 2009 the scheme was in use in some 200,000 libraries acr...

Q 02/05

In the Dewey Decimal system, which subject occupies the 800s?

A) Literature

B) Religion

C) History and geography

D) Pure science

Answer · why

A) Literature

Religion sits in the 200s, pure science in the 500s and history and geography close out the scheme in the 900s.

Q 03/05

The Library of Alexandria was part of a larger institution dedicated to the Muses. What was it called?

A) Mouseion

B) Serapeum

C) Lyceum

D) Academy

Answer · why

A) Mouseion

The word survives in English as 'museum'; the Serapeum was a separate temple in the city that later held an offshoot collection.

Q 04/05

Whose 6,487 books did the US buy in 1815 for $23,950 to restock its national library after the Capitol burned?

A) John Adams

B) James Madison

C) Benjamin Franklin

D) Thomas Jefferson

Answer · why

D) Thomas Jefferson

The former president's books covered philosophy, science and cookery as well as law, and they broadened the collection far beyond the legal texts Cong...

Q 05/05

J. Edgar Hoover took his first job at 18 as an entry-level messenger at which institution?

A) US Patent Office

B) Library of Congress

C) Smithsonian Institution

D) National Archives

Answer · why

B) Library of Congress

Hoover later credited the job with teaching him the value of collating material, a habit that shaped the FBI's vast filing systems.