The principles of the scheme are "To provide the optimum arrangement of books in each subject; to permit the revision of the classification to meet a changing academic approach to a subject without disturbing in any way other parts of the scheme; and to provide as simple a shelf mark as possible to help the reader find the book he wants with the minimum mental effort.
"[3] In his article "The Basic Principles of the New Library Classification at University College, London[2] Garside set out the generic structure of the system.
The library would be divided into subject-based reading rooms such as, in the example below, a dedicated space for biology-related materials.
Basic Concepts in Population, Quantitative, and Evolutionary Genetics by James F. Crow is shelved at BIOLOGY H 5 CRO.
[4] In order to provide for a single-subject card catalogue Garside added a further table to which the top reading room divisions could be mapped.