In This Section:
Books and other material on the shelves in Cowles Library are arranged by Library of Congress (LC) Classification call number. The information on this page will familiarize you with how LC call numbers are organized and how you can use them to navigate library shelves.
Most LC call numbers have four parts:
Title: Pharmacology for Women's Health
Editor: Tekoa L. King
| RG | Gynecology and Obstetrics |
| 131 | Gynecologic drugs |
| .P43 | Cutter number (based on title, “Pharmacology”) |
| 2001 | Publication Year |
The formatting of the call number depends on where it is displayed. On the book's spine label, the parts of the call number are listed vertically, as in the image above. In SuperSearch, the call number is displayed on a single line, and may not have spaces between parts.
Each line of a call number is read differently.
The first line consists of 1 to 3 letters and is read alphabetically. The following are in the correct order:
A B BF C CD D DA DAW G GE
The second line is a whole number and is read as a numeral. This number may contain a decimal. The following are in the correct order:
1 9 38 39 133 725 725.9 1225 9756
The third line (and perhaps fourth, if there are multiple Cutters) can be the trickiest to read. It consists of a letter, which is ordered alphabetically, followed by numbers, which are read as a decimal. So, just as the decimal .525 comes before the decimal .7, so does the cutter .B525 come before the cutter .B7. The following are in the correct order:
.B5 .B525 .B6 .B679 .B7 .C3 .C337 .C4 .C5877
The last line is the four-digit year of publication, and is read in chronological order.
1889 1902 1975 1980 2001 2017
In addition, there may be letters and numbers indicating the book’s order in a series. Here are some common examples:
| V.1 | Volume 1 |
| Pt. 3 | Part 3 |
| ser. A | Series A |
| no. 22 | Number 22 |
| Suppl. | Supplement |
Not all call numbers have exactly four lines representing the same information. It depends on the nature of the work. Here are some other examples:
A second Cutter number is used when there are many works on a topic or by an author, and the works cannot be represented in sufficient detail by a single Cutter. The second cutter number does not have a leading decimal point.
Title: The Road
Author: Cormac McCarthy
| PS | American Literature |
| 3563 | Individual Authors -> 1961-2000 -> M |
| .C337 | Author's Cutter number, using the second letter (mCcarthy) |
| R63 | Cutter based on title (“Road” – initial articles like a, an, the are ignored) |
| 2006 | Publication Year |
Works with multiple volumes will have a final line representing the volume or part number.
Title: Everyone in Dickens
Author: George Newlin
| PR | English Literature |
| 4589 | 19th century, 1770/1800-1890-1900 -> Individual Authors -> Dickens, Charles |
| .N48 | Cutter based on author ("Newlin") |
| 1995 | Publication Year |
| V.1 | Volume |
