Library of Congress Call Numbers:A Guide for Non-Catalogers Who Suddenly Find Themselves with a

Cataloging Job

Angela Kroeger

TED 4740/8746 Cataloging and Classification

University of Nebraska at Omaha/University of Missouri

Spring 2013

The purpose of this guide is to teach the basic structure of a Library of Congress call number so you can:• Format spine labels correctly.• Sort and file items accurately.• Recognize when a call number is incomplete

or improperly formatted.

Classification and constructing new call numbers are beyond the scope of this guide.

Anatomy of a Call Number

• The Classification is related to the subject headings, so that items on the same topic will be grouped together on the shelves.

• The Cutter is usually derived from the author's name, so that items within a classification will be alphabetical by author (or by title for edited works).

• The Date is usually the date of publication (except for conferences, which take the conference date).

This call number is for the book Zero: the biography of a dangerous idea, by Charles Seife.

QA141 = Numeration, general works S45 = Seife

Anatomy of a Call Number

• Some call numbers have more than one cutter.

• The first cutter is considered part of the classification.

• These cutters can mean a lot of different things:– Subtopic– Author or artist– Geographic region– Language– Etc.

This call number is for the book "I am a man": Chief Standing Bear's journey for justice, by Joe Starita.

E99 = Indians of North America.P7 = PoncaS837 = Starita

Library of Congress Classification Outlinehttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/

MARC Record Display

• Different software may display the subfield delimiter differently, often as a dollar sign ($), pipe ( | ), or double-dagger (‡).

• Some library software omits the code $a from display.• The MARC encoding should never be on a printed call number label.

Line Breaks for Spine Labels

This call number is for The innovation journey of Wi-Fi: the road to global success, edited by Wolter Lemstra, Vic Hayes and John Groenewegen.

Sometimes it can get a little crazy . . .

Yes, this is a real call number in the Criss Library collection at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.This is an audio CD supplement to an issue of The Platte Valley review, shelved separately from the journal.

Note that prefixes and suffixes aren't used by the Library of Congress, but many libraries add them locally.

Sorting: Take Each Letter or Number in Order

• Each alphanumeric character is significant.• Sort letters according to the order of the English

language alphabet.• Sort dates in ascending chronological order.• Sort volume numbers and ordinals in sequential order.• Sort all other numbers according to mathematics.

– The classification number is as it seems.– All cutter numbers are decimals.

To elaborate . . .

Sorting: All Cutters Are Decimals

• I56 is filed before I7.• S47465 is filed before S837.

Sometimes the Decimal is Implied

For various technical or aesthetic reasons, the decimal point in front of the first cutter may be omitted from the printed label. This does not affect the filing order.

Line Breaks Don't Change Sort Order

Likewise, line breaks elsewhere in the call number don't affect filing. They're just for readability, or for fitting the label to the width of the book's spine.

Sorting: Nothing Before Something

• Treat nothingness as an imaginary letter before A or a number before 1.

• That is, a call number lacking a particular element is shelved ahead of a call number containing that element.

• For example, B before BF.• KFN30.A2 N4 before KFN30.A2 N4 1866.

Just when you think you've got LC call numbers down, something weird shows up.

For example, non-numeric cutters for juvenile materials.

This call number is for The lion & the mouse, by Jerry Pinkney.

A date in the middle of the call number?

For certain subjects, the date of an event is part of the classification.

This call number is for a book about the 2008 presidential election, Techno politics in presidential campaigning: new voices, new technologies, and new voters, edited by John Allen Hendricks and Lynda Lee Kaid.

An ordinal number?

For certain military subjects, the classification includes the number of the regiment.

This call number is for The Tenth Minnesota Volunteers, 1862-1865: a history of action in the Sioux Uprising and the Civil War, with a regimental roster, by Michael A. Eggleston.

Work LettersSometimes you'll see a lowercase letter after the date.• a means the item is a facsimile. • b, c, d, etc. are assigned to multiple editions of a

work published in the same year.• x means the call number wasn't assigned by the

Library of Congress. Use the call number, but delete the x.

• z means the date is uncertain.

Clare Lattimore explains work letters in detail: http://smu.edu/cul/cip/docs/CAT/cpm-050-090.htm

These call numbers are for Ready player one, by Ernest Cline, and Predicting the next president: the keys to the White House, by Allan J. Lichtman, respectively.

In Summary . . .

• Call numbers serve as physical addresses for an item.

• Call numbers also convey some information about the item's subject and content.

• When sorting, file each element in order.• Treat cutter numbers as decimals.• File nothing before something.

ReferencesAmerican Museum and Natural History Research Library. (2013). Library of Congress call

numbers. Retrieved from: http://library.amnh.org/research-tools/tips-tutorials/library-congress-call-numbers

Chan, L. M. (2007). Cataloging and classification: An introduction (3rd ed.). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Edmands, J. (1887, January-December). Rules for alfabeting. The Library Journal, 12, 326-331. Retrieved from: http://books.google.com/books?id=QObgAAAAMAAJ&dq=library%20journal%2012%20edmands%20rules%20for%20alfabeting&pg=PA326#v=onepage&q&f=false

Lattimore, C. (2002). 050 & 090 Library of Congress call numbers. Retrieved from: http://smu.edu/cul/cip/docs/CAT/cpm-050-090.htm

Library of Congress. (n.d.). ClassificationWeb. [Data file and online software.] Retrieved from: http://classificationweb.net/

Library of Congress. (n.d.). Library of Congress classification outline. Retrieved from: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/

National Information Standards Organization. (1999). Guidelines for alphabetical arrangement of letters and sorting of numerals and other symbols [PDF document]. Bethesda, MD: NISO Press. Retrieved from: http://www.niso.org/publications/tr/tr03.pdf

University of Georgia, Board of Regents, Online Library Learning Center. (n.d.). The Library of Congress classification system (LC). Retrieved from: http://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit03/libraries03_04.phtml