Page 95 - Cataloging and Classification for Library Technicians, 2nd Edition

Classification 81

TERMINOLOGY

author num ber: See BOOK NUM BER.
book num ber: A let ter and num ber com bination assigned to a par ticu-
lar book rep resenting the author. Com bined with the clas sification
number, it forms a unique sym bol. This ensures that books on the same
subject will be shelved side by side, alphabetically by authors’ last
names. Book num ber is also called author num ber or cut ter num ber.

call num ber: The loca tion, or the address, of an item on the shelves.
The call num ber is a com bination of the classification num ber and the
book num ber. Some times other nota tions such as vol ume num ber,
notation rep resenting the title, and other sym bols are assigned by the
cataloger so that each item has a unique nota tion. This notation is
called a call number—the num ber to call for the mate rial.

cut ter num ber: See also BOOK NUM BER. Book num bers are derived
from a ref erence book titled Cut ter-Sanborn Three-Fig ure Author
Table and are there fore called the Cut ter num ber. Two other ver sions
of this book are titled C. A. Cut ter’s Three-Fig ure Author Table and
Cutter’s Two-Fig ure Author Table.
nota tion: A num ber or num ber and let ter com bination that is pre -
scribed in the clas si fi ca tion scheme.

DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

The Dewey Dec imal Clas sification system is the most widely used
classification system in the world. This ref erence tool, called DDC in
short, now in its twenty-first edition, pub lished in 1996, con tains four
volumes. As stated in the introduction to the Dewey Clas sification,
this sys tem is used by over 200,000 libraries in 135 coun tries and has
been trans lated into over thirty for eign lan guages. In the United
States, 95 per cent of all pub lic and school libraries, 25 per cent of all
college and uni versity li braries, and 20 per cent of spe cial libraries use
this sys tem. Var i ous bib lio graphic util i ties and on line ser vices use
the DDC system as their re trieval tool.