5.6: How Libraries Organize Materials
- Page ID
- 324678
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[A Person Wearing a Hard Hat by Artistic Frames, licensed under the Unsplash license]
A series of numbers and letters, usually provided on a book's spine label, which designates where the item should be placed on library bookshelves in order to be located with other titles of a similar subject.
Libraries organize materials by subject, generally using one of two call number systems: Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress. The Dewey Decimal system is mostly used by public libraries and public school libraries while Library of Congress is primarily used by academic libraries. Public and school libraries use Dewey Decimal because it is a more general system that is useful for smaller libraries. It has fewer subject categories which can simplify their system for library users. The Library of Congress system is more detailed, providing much more specific subject categories.
Libraries sometimes shelve special books into their own collections outside of their call number system. This is usually for archives, course reserves, or other specific resources that the library wants to highlight or make easier to access.
Dewey Decimal System
The Dewey Decimal System is the mostly widely used system in the world, with over 138 countries using it to organize book collections. This sytem first organizes books into ten main classes, which are then divided into divisions and sections. The first three numbers of a Dewey Decimal call number are the class:
- 000 Computer science, information, & general works
- 100 Philosophy & psychology
- 200 Religion
- 300 Social sciences
- 400 Language
- 500 Science
- 600 Technology
- 700 Arts & recreation
- 800 Literature
- 900 History & geography
From there, the 'hundreds' field is broken down into sub-categories:
- 600 Technology
- 630 Agriculture
- 636 Animal husbandry
- 630 Agriculture
The call number includes three letters at the end which refer to the name of the author(s) or editor(s).
Library of Congress System
The Library of Congress (LC) system is more complex, with more specific subject areas. This complexity is useful in academic collections focused on research. Each LC call number includes a series of letters and numbers that classify a book into subject categories, and then subclasses within that subject category.
The first lines of each call number include 1-2 letters and then numbers. Books are first organized on the shelves by broad subject, identified by the letters. These are organized in alphabetical order, from A to Z. After that, books are organized within their subject category based on a whole number. As shown below, once you find programming books under QA, you can find the Java books under 76.
After that, the organization gets increasingly specific in topic. After locating the QA books, the books are organized numerically until you reach QA 76.73. After that, the third section is a decimal with a letter and numbers. You would read the letter alphabetically and then the number as a decimal.
[Library of Congress Classification by Raysonho, public domain]