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HOW GOVERNMENT & LAW COLLECTIONS ARE ARRANGED |
United States government publications are arranged by the Superintendent of Documents Classification System (SuDoc). The number is composed of two parts: the stem which designates the issuing agency and publication series and the book number which identifies each publication in the series as a unique item. A colon (:) divides the two parts of the number.
Example: HE 20.8216:88
(Stem: HE 20.8216:, Book number: 88)
It may help to think of the stem as representing the “first line” of the call number. Find the area with that stem first. The book number is the “second line” of the call number. Look for that within the stem group.
Call numbers are written on the top left cover of most publications. Occasionally, for larger publications, the call number is on the spine.
The first part of the number is a letter(s) reflecting the agency issuing the publication. Publications are first arranged alphabetically by the initial letter(s):
A 1.75: Agriculture Dept. C 3.2: Commerce Dept. HE 1.28: Health and Human Services Dept.
The number following the letter(s) is shelved numerically:
C 3. C 55. C 61.
The number following the period is a whole number, not a decimal:
HE 20.9: nine comes before HE 20.44: forty-four which comes before HE 20.221: two hundred twenty-one
The number following the colon (:) may begin with a letter or a number and is filed accordingly – alphabetically or numerically. Some stems, particulary in the Y 4.’s, use both styles of numbering, some in combination. Look for the stem area and then find the sub-group that matches the style of number you are looking for. Here is one example of multiple styles within a stem and the order in which they are grouped:
Y 4.J 89/2: C 43/8/986 (letter group first) Y 4.J 89/2: 96-62 (numbered group next) Y 4.J 89/2: S.hrg.103-284 (senate hearing numbered group next) Y 4.J 89/2: S.prt.101-54 (senate print numbered group last)
Census volumes do not have call numbers (although they may appear in the online catalog). The Census Collection is arranged by type of census: Decennial (1790-1940), Agriculture, Business, Economic, Governments, Housing, and Population. Within each census, volumes are arranged by census year.
Law books are arranged by Library of Congress (LC) call numbers, the same as the libraries’ other book collections.
United Nations publications are arranged by Library of Congress (LC) call numbers, the same as the libraries’ other book collections.
European Union publications are arranged by Library of Congress (LC) call numbers, the same as the libraries’ other book collections.
Ohio publications are arranged by a classification system similar to that used for the U.S. collection. Follow the same rules described for the U.S. collection above. All of the call numbers begin with the letter O. Example:
OAT 1.2:C4732/2003
OAT 48/4.2:P9642/2001
OED 208/2.15:24/4
ONR 246.17:349/2004
The Reference Collection is arranged by Library of Congress (LC) call numbers. At the end of the LC call number section is a small US REFERENCE area arranged by Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) call numbers. See the U.S. section above for an explanation of SuDoc numbers.
