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| Library
of Congress Classification |
Top | Table
of Contents
Library
of Congress call numbers provide a way to organize a collection of volumes,
keeping similar items together and allowing us to find a specific book
among thousands of others. In general, a book's call number acts as its
address on the shelf. The call numbers are read left to right, volume
by volume on each shelf, top to bottom on each section of shelving.
All
call numbers have at least three lines. Some have as many as
five. There are specific rules of arrangement:
| 1.
Similar call numbers are grouped together, and they run progressively,
in ascending alphabetical and numerical order. An AC call number
would be shelved to the left of an AD call number; Q would come before
QA; QA 75.6 would come before QA 76, and so on. |
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| 2.
The call numbers are read from the first line, alphabetically by letter(s),
then by the second line's number, and then by the third line's letter
and decimal number. The number on the third line is a decimal
number, whether or not the decimal point is present. Although
the call number in InfoLinks is displayed straight across, for example:
BF575.F66 D83 1983, the call numbers will be displayed vertically
on the spines of the volumes. |
BF
575
.F66
D83
1982 |
| 3.
The fourth line of the call number may be a mixed (letter and number)
term. If so, it is read in the same way as the third line--
by letter and by decimal number. |
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4.
The fourth line (or sometimes the fifth line) may be a date, usually the
year of publication. If all the elements of the call number are
identical, the volumes are shelved in order of publication year. This
is useful for distinguishing editions of a work or volumes of a journal.
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