Page 127 - DLIS002_KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGUING THEORY

Knowledge Organization: Classification and Cataloguing Theory

Notes page: 2:51N3 qN60. 2:51N3 is the class number (2 for Library Science, 51 for Generalia
Bibliography/Technical Treatment/Classification, N3 for Colon Classification), and qN60 is
the book number (q to show the form is “Code,” N for 1900-1999, 60 to make the year 1960).
(Footnote 1: “Numbers” in this sense are also called “marks:” book marks, class marks, collection
marks, etc. Book numbers are sometimes called item numbers, to cover other forms of material,
but here the focus will be on books and shelves.)
(Footnote 2: The University of Toronto’s library catalogues can be searched a thttp://
www.library.utoronto.ca/. All but two use Library of Congress classification.)
(Footnote 3: “Author” will be used in the rest of the essay for “main entry,” because that is how
users think, and because the idea of “main entry” did not exist when book number schemes were
first created.)
“Book number” means slightly different things to different people. Comaromi (1981) says a
book number is a “combination of author numbers, Cutter numbers, author letters, and any
other shelf-listing device.” Chan (1994) defines item number as “that part of a call number which
designates a specific individual item within its class.” Sartap and Comaromi (1992) say, “Class
numbers alone produce groupings whose size depends upon the depth of the library classification
and the closeness with which the classification used is applied. To organize or provide order
within a class grouping, documents are given a further notation called a book number.”
Ranganathan (1964) said the book number “of a book is a symbol used to fix position relatively
to the other books having the same Ultimate Class. The Book Number of a book individualises
it among the books sharing the same class number.”
Book numbers do not usually reflect the subject of a book, but instead are based on external
attributes such as author name or year of publication. Satija and Comaromi (1992) say that book
numbers “may be based on one or a combination of some of the attributes of the document, such
as author, title, language, year or place of publication, physical size, and physical make-up.”
(Book numbers may sometimes reflect a subject-related aspect of a book, such as when it is a
volume of criticism. Ranganathan used a g at end of the call number for that, and that the Library
of Congress system uses its own indicators in some cases. This brings together on the shelf
books and their criticism, a very helpful collocation.) Ranganathan (1964) said the book number
“may consist of one or more the following successive Facets: Language Number; Form Number;
Year Number; Accession Part of Book Number; Volume Number; Supplement Number; Copy
Number; Criticism Number; and Accession Part of Criticism Number.”
In general, book number = author number + title (or work) mark + edition mark + date of
publication + volume number + copy number + anything else library policy dictates. Call
number = class number + book number, with the collection number at the start or end.
Book numbers give a unique shelf location to each book in a collection. They bring a defined and
consistent order to all books on a given topic, an order that may apply more generally to all
subject groupings in the library. Depending on the size of the collection and the depth of
classification, it may happen that very rarely do two books collide and share a class number, so
book numbers are not thought necessary. Satija and Agriwal (1990) forcefully object to such
imprecision:
“For a rigorously fine arrangement of books, book numbers are indispensable. Yet their value
is debated if not totally doubted. A sizeable number of librarians do not value them highly in
shelf arrangement; no wonder then if these are meted out a step-motherly treatment in some
libraries. Literature on them is thin and rare. Even those who use book numbers think of them
as merely an adjunct—a tool of the perfectionist only. Yet their value in impeccable shelf
classification cannot be underestimated. In close access libraries these have comparatively more
value in pinpointing the location of books.

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