Page 120 - DLIS002_KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGUING THEORY

Unit 6: Concept of Call Number

Elements of a Call Number: Each book or score in the Music Library is uniquely identified by a Notes
set of letters and numerals known as a call number. Call numbers generally consist of two or
three elements: an LC class number followed by a tag known as the Cutter number (or book
number) and often a date.
Call number = Class number + Cutter number(s) + (date)

The class number begins with one or more capital letters representing a branch of a subject
classification in LC, the broad neighbourhood of items related by subject, discussed above.
Within each main class or subclass, the integers 1-9999 (some with decimal extensions) are
added to identify further subject subdivisions, defining the subject matter of the item more
finely. The same combination of letter(s) and numerals is given to all individual items in the
same subject class area.
After the first combination of letter(s) and numerals identifying the subject class another
combination follows, known as the Cutter number. Named after Charles A. Cutter, who
developed an alphanumeric code that forms the basis of the number, this second letter/number
combination places an individual item in alphabetical order within its LC subject class (usually
by the first letter of an author’s last name, though it may sometimes also represent some other
information about a work such as a further subject subdivision). In order to assure the Cutter
number is unique a date often follows. Thus, the two parts of the call number serve two very
different functions: the first part (class number) organizes knowledge by subject and the second
part (Cutter number[s] + date) acts as a shelving device for arranging individual items within
subject classes.
For Example: The following item from the PBA Library:
Arnold, Denis. Bach. (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1984).

It has been assigned the call number ML410.B1A96 1984, where ML410 is the LC class number
and .B1 .A96 are the Cutter numbers.

ML410 class number +
call number = .B1 .A96 Cutter number(s) +
1984 date

The meaning of the LC call number can be analysed part by part:
ML410 is the classification for composer biographies: ML represents Music Literature, a subclass
of class M Music. The number 410, which is added to ML, represents Biography (by composer last
name), itself a subdivision of the group of numbers representing History and Criticism under
Music Literature.
The remainder of the notation, .B1 .A96 1984, is added to the class number in order to distinguish
the specific item by Denis Arnold from all other items within the class of items at ML410. In this
case, .B1 .A96 is a “double cutter,” where .B1 may be seen to form part of the class number, or an
extension of it, because it is a subdivision of Biography referring to books on J.S. Bach. Since all
biographies of J.S. Bach are given the number ML410.B1, a second Cutter, .A96, is added to refer
specifically to Arnold’s biography of Bach. Together, the class number and the book number
form a unique call number—an address that communicates information about the subject of an
item and where a specific item may be found within (an alphabetical list of similar items in) its
subject class.
In using a call number to locate a book on the shelf, consider each component of the call number
in turn before moving on to the next segment. Each element of the call number is read is a

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