Guide to Library Research in Science

Lesson 4: Organization of Library Materials

Each item in the library is assigned a unique identification number that determines its location on the shelf. This call number is listed in the catalog record for each item. Two systems used at the College of Wooster libraries are the Library of Congress Classification System and the Superintendent of Documents Classification System

Library of Congress Classification System

Most of the materials that are held in the College of Wooster libraries are cataloged by subject using the Library of Congress Classification System. Each item is assigned a unique call number and is placed on the shelves so that the materials dealing with the same subject are shelved together. The Library of Congress Classification Outline lists the letters and titles of the main classes, with links to outlines of the subclasses. The Library of Congress Classification System for the Sciences provides a list of LC classifications that are relevant for the sciences, listed both by call number range and alphabetically by broad subject area.

Once you become familiar with the LC classification system, you can locate the call number range for your area of interest and browse for relevant materials. Remember, though, that you do not want to depend entirely on browsing to locate materials. For example, topics in the general area of molecular biology may be found under QD (Chemistry), QH (Genetics, Cytology, Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology), QP (Physiology), QR (Microbiology), RC (Internal Medicine), and TP (Biotechnology).

Reading Library of Congress Call Numbers

Call numbers may be written on one line, as they appear in the library catalog:

Or they may be stacked as they would appear on a book label:

The first letter in the call number represents one of the major subject classifications of the LC system as listed in the Library of Congress Classification Outline, in this case Q for Science. The second letter represents a subdivision of science. Items classified as QC are primarily about some aspect of Physics. The numbers after the letters further specify the subject of the item. The range QC170-197 includes works on atomic physics, and items classed at QC174.12 are about quantum theory. The Cutter number consists of the letter and number after the decimal point. It is derived from the author’s last name. Note that the Cutter number is read as a decimal number, i.e., 0.39, not 39.

Some items have two Cutter numbers, the first of which is a more specific description of the subject of the item, and the second represents the last name of the author. For example, in the call number QC794.6 .S85 G75, the first line specifies Nuclear interactions, and .S85 represents the subtopic String models.

Items are shelved by call number in alphabetical and numerical order. Considering only the first line, the following call numbers are listed in the correct order:

Q15

QC4

QK73.1

QK371

QK731

R15

The Cutter numbers are arranged alphabetically by the first letter, then by number read as a decimal.

The following call numbers are listed in the correct order. Note that 0.515 comes before 0.52.

QH1 .B4

QH1 .B42

QH1 .B425

.QH1 .B5

QH1 .B515

QH1 .B52

Superintendent of Documents Classification System

The United States government is involved in almost every aspect of our lives and publishes information in most of its areas of involvement. The College of Wooster has an extensive collection of government publications, selected to support our curriculum, most of which are listed in the CONSORT catalog. For more information on our U.S. Government Publications collection see Government Information Collection.

U.S. Government Publications are cataloged by issuing agency, using the Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) classification system. Each item is assigned a call number and arranged on shelves with other items published by that governmental department or agency, regardless of subject. For this reason, browsing in government publications is very inefficient. See e-LOC: Electronic List of Classes for a list of SuDocs classifications, browsable by agency or SuDocs stem, or searchable by keyword. Superintendent of Documents Classification System provides a list of some government agencies that publish scientific information.

Reading Superintendent of Documents Call Numbers

SuDocs call numbers always begin with one or more letters, representing the issuing agency, and may include several types of punctuation within the same call number. An example of a SuDocs call number is:

In this example, the I represents the Department of the Interior; 19 is the U.S. Geological Survey which is an agency within the Department of the Interior; 16 is Professional Papers, one of several series of publications issued by the USGS. After the colon, individual item numbers are listed and may include dates, volumes, or issue numbers. In this case. 1528 is the issue number in the Professional Papers series. The title of this specific document is The Role of Salt in the Structural Development of Central Utah. For more information on reading SuDocs numbers, see SuDocs Classification System at the College of Wooster Libraries Government Resources site.

Locations in The College of Wooster Libraries

In addition to call numbers, which specify the order of materials on the shelves, materials are also assigned a location based upon special subjects or collections, material type, size, or format. These locations are listed in the CONSORT catalog along with the call number and correlate to physical location in the libraries.

The Timken Science Library houses materials supporting instruction and research in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, geology, mathematics, computer science, physics, astronomy and astrophysics. Materials dealing with some areas of medicine, agriculture and technology can also be found in the Timken Science Library. Generally speaking, materials with the LC classifications GE, Q, R, S, and T are housed in Timken, but some of these call number ranges are split due to the interdisciplinary nature of the subject materials. See Science Library Collections for a summary of the distribution of science call number ranges. Remember that the location field in the CONSORT record for each item is the authoritative source for the location of that item. Locating U.S. Government Resources provides a list of location designations for U.S. government publications.

Each CONSORT catalog location corresponds to a physical location in the libraries. These locations along with other facilities and service points are illustrated on the libraries’ web site at Science Library Floor Plans and Andrews and Gault Libraries-Map Directory.