Arrangement of Books

CLASSIFICATION & ARRANGEMENT OF BOOKS

All the books in the Library are Classified and Cataloged according to established International standards followed throughout the world. ABP Library follows Library of Congress Classification (LCC) scheme. Please read the instructions carefully and follow the procedure for locating the books in the Library.

Cataloging using the LCC is an exact process that requires subject and library knowledge.

Finding books with LCC call numbers is easy.


LC Classification Outline


  • A — GENERAL WORKS
  • B — PHILOSOPHY. PSYCHOLOGY. RELIGION
  • C — AUXILIARY SCIENCES OF HISTORY
  • D — WORLD HISTORY AND HISTORY OF EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, ETC. –
  • E — HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS
  • F — HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS
  • G — GEOGRAPHY. ANTHROPOLOGY. RECREATION
  • H — SOCIAL SCIENCES
  • J — POLITICAL SCIENCE
  • K — LAW
  • L — EDUCATION
  • M — MUSIC AND BOOKS ON MUSIC
  • N — FINE ARTS
  • P — LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
  • Q — SCIENCE
  • R — MEDICINE
  • S — AGRICULTURE
  • T — TECHNOLOGY
  • U — MILITARY SCIENCE
  • V — NAVAL SCIENCE
  • Z — BIBLIOGRAPHY. LIBRARY SCIENCE. INFORMATION RESOURCES (GENERAL)


Call Numbers


Every book in the library is given a number to serve as an address for locating the book on the shelf which is called the “Call Number”. The Call Number helps in identifying a book based on the subject to which it belongs. There can be two or more books with the same Call Number. For example, if there are two copies of the same book, then both books will have the same Call Number. This means that they both belong to the same subject and are supposed to be together in the subject rack.


Sample call number

QA
303.2 .A75
2003

Call Numbers begin with one or two letters and in very few subject areas three letters.


  • The first letter of a call number represents one of the 21 major divisions of the LCC system.
  • For example “Q” is Science and the second letter “A” represents a subdivision of the Sciences, Mathematics.
  • On the second line is the first set of digits for a call number. They further refine the subject area.
  • “303.2” in the example tells the user that this is a book on calculus after 1960.


Cutter Numbers


  • Within each subject, books need to be arranged in an exact location .

  • This order is based on the alphabetical order of the author or main title of the item.

  • In our example QA 303.2 .A75 2003. the “A75” represents the author’s last name which is called as the “Cutter number”.

  • Some books have double Cutter numbers, The first one is usually a further refinement of the subject matter.

  • For example QA 76.76 H94 M88 is a book located in the mathematics section of the Q’s

QA 76 is about Computer Science.
The “76” indicates special topics in automation.
H94 tells us this is a book about HTML
M88 represents the last name of the first author.



Shelving and Locating


  • Items, shelved by call numbers, are arranged line by line.
  • First the books are arranged by alphabetical order that means all the QA books are before the QB books no matter what follows the first line.
  • Second, the numbers in the second line follow in numerical order. The numbers are followed as if they are decimals. That means 5 is followed by 6, 2001 is after 2
  • Example of the order A2, A22, A3, A4, A456, A5…


Dates, Volumes & Copies


  • Dates, Volume, Issues and copy numbers and other annotation are the last part of a call number.
  • The dates help with arrangement of different edition of the same work.
  • Copy numbers are used when the library owns multiple copies of an item.


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