The Childhood and Adolescence Classification Scheme is designed to perform mainly a function of physical placement of documents on shelves, based on simple principles that do not require particular classification skills ("mark and park"). The possibility of assigning a classification notation to all the documents also offers users a sort of classified catalogue which is in fact an additional search possibility.

In this sense, the Classification Scheme should be seen as part of a more complex work that has led to the construction and publication of the ThIA – Italian Thesaurus of Childhood and Adolescence, an indexing tool that allows precise and rational searches. Both the thesaurus and the classification scheme complement each other, maintaining a substantial compatibility as they share the terminology and a part of the structure. The inspiration for the structuring of the Classification Scheme is attributable to Alfredo Carlo Moro, former president of the National Documentation and Analysis Centre for Children and Adolescents, from the time it was set up and during the years of development of this product.