Library of Congress Call Numbers

Call Number Guide - Main Library

• Circulating and Reference books, as well as bound journals in the Libraries are shelved according to the Library of Congress classification system.
• This system is designed to group together materials on the same subject.
• A unique call number is assigned to each item.
• Library of Congress call numbers are comprised of three parts:
  • one, two, or three letters that serve to identify a broad subject category
  • a number indicating a more specific area within the broader subject
  • a segment beginning with a period and followed by an alpha-numeric code that identifies a particular book or journal.

Items are arranged on the shelves first in alphabetical order by the letters:

A

B

BF

H

J

JA

K

KF

KFM

Q

QA

QB

QC

T

U

Z

Then, for each letter combination,there is an arrangement by number:

KF	KF	KF	KF	KF	KF
54	235	235.4	245.73	267	269.8

Finally the books are arranged by the last, alpha-numeric segment, which is read like a decimal number.

For example, .B3 is read as though it were B.3 and follows .B299 (read as B.299) on the shelf:

KF	KF	KF	KF	KF	KF
267	267	267	267	267	267.3
.J58	.M299	.M5	.M55	.M6	.D3

This page was last modified on: Mar 29, 2007