Focus On ...
Call Numbers
Enter Melvil Dewey. Yes, as in the Dewey Decimal System. Dewey (1851-1931) was obsessed with efficiency. He held his first library job while a student at Amherst College and discovered this inefficient arrangement of books. By the age of 25 he had created the classification system that bears his name. It divides knowledge into ten broad categories. Each of these broad categories is divided into ten categories, and each sub-category is further refined into single topics. Oh, and by the way, Dewey was in favor of spelling reform, too, and pruned his given name from Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey to simply Melvil Dui, although he later reverted to the original spelling of Dewey.
Other ways to classify library collections also exist. Parkland College Library, as do many college and university libraries as well as some public libraries, uses the Library of Congress Classification System. As the name suggests, it was developed by the Library of Congress. It, too, organizes library materials according to their subjects. But unlike the Dewey system which primarily uses numbers, LC call numbers are created using both numbers and alphabetic letters.
LC call numbers always begin with 1, 2 or 3 letters. The letters are assigned to specific subjects. These letters are followed by numbers which help to narrow the subject further. Next is a decimal letter/number combination which generally, but not always, refers to the author's last name. Call numbers frequently end with the year that the work was published.
| JK | J = General Subject (Political Science) K = Specific Subject (United States) |
| 216 | Division of the subject (Constitutional History, 1821-1865) |
| .T7 | Derived from the author's name |
| 1994 | Year of publication of this edition |
JK 216 .T7 1994
is the call number of Democracy in America, a book related to American politics originally written in the mid 1800s by Alexis de Tocqueville, this edition published in 1994. You should also note that REF - as in the first line of our Reference books - does not refer to the subject of the book, but where the book is shelved ... in our Reference collection. You should also remember that one book can cover many subjects, but can be shelved in only one physical location. Therefore, all books on a subject may not always be shelved together. So while "psychology" can be found in BF, "psychology of women" is assigned HQ.
| In This Issue |
| Webpage |
|
... Page 1 |
| Call Numbers |
|
... Page 2 |
| Janet Wilkinson |
|
... Page 3 |
| Triva |
|
... Page 4 |
| Workshop |
|
... Page 5 |
| Tax Forms |
|
... Page 5 |
| Used Book Sale |
|
... Page 5 |
| Suggestion Box |
|
... Page 6 |
| Out and About |
|
... Page 7 |
| Looking Ahead |
|
... Page 7 |
| Library Hours |
|
... Page 7 |
| Book Displays |
|
... Page 8 |
| One Last Look |
|
... Page 9 |
|
|
Image courtesy of Stephen H. Spohn, Jr.
University of Maryland Libraries
The next time you are looking for a book about accounting, do not go automatically to the A call number area. Search our catalog, note the subject portion of the call number (in this case, HF 5635 for accounting), and then browse that section of the stacks. As always, a librarian will assist you in finding what you are looking for and point you in the right direction.