Finding Call Numbers
Category: Resource access and delivery
Purpose: General Interest
Audience(s): Undergraduate student
How to find print books and government publications by call number on the Library shelves.
Finding call number and location information in Omni
Interpreting call numbers for print books (LC)
Interpreting LC call numbers
The library uses Library of Congress (or LC) call numbers, which have letters and numbers. Books on similar topics are shelved together.
Here is how to find the call number HM1091 .B47:
- First, find the letter(s). Single letters come before double: H, HB, HM
- Next, find the first number: Numbers start at 1 and follow in numerical order, so look for 1,091.
- Last, look at the second letter/number. Find the letter first, then the number, which is read like a decimal: .B4, .B41, .B452 all come before .B5
Call number locations
See the Waterloo Library floor plans for information about which call numbers are found on each floor.
Interpreting call numbers for government publications (CODOC)
Government Document call numbers are made up of codes that classify documents by country and by departments within countries.
A breakdown of CODOC call number construction by section
| Call number section | Example call number 1:
CA1 BS57 C003 |
Example call number 2:
CA2ON NR403 80P15 |
|---|---|---|
| Country |
CA – Canada |
CA – Canada |
| Level of Government |
1 – Federal |
2 – Provincial |
| Province/State |
ON – Ontario |
|
| Dept./Agency |
BS – Statistics Canada(was Bureau of Statistics) |
NR – Natural Resources |
| Dept. Subdivision |
57 |
403 |
| Date of Publication |
80 (ie 1980) |
|
| Title Indicator (monographs) |
P15 |
|
| Title Indicator (serials) |
C003 |
CODOC Shelving Tips
Tip #1
Government documents are shelved by call number, alpha-numerically from left to right. Write out the call number on two lines. For monographs, the second line starts with the date code:
CA2ON NR403 80P15
should be
CA2ON NR403 80P15
For serials and ongoing publications such as annual reports, dates are not given and so the second line starts with the letter/number code for the title.
CA1 BS57 C003
should be
CA1 BS57 C003
Tip #2
Serials are shelved before monographs within each department and agency.
CA1 DA A53 1980/81
comes before
CA1 DA 88 L55
Tip #3
The numbers on line one are whole numbers. The numbers on line two that are a part of the letter/number code are not.
On line one, the number sequence is determined by the entire number as shown, but also note that a blank space following the Dept/Agency code is counted as a zero.
CA1 DA_
comes before
CA1 DA4
which comes before
CA1 DA35
On line two, the number sequence is determined by comparing the digits within the number.
Sequence:
14, 350, 4
would read as
140, 350, 400
CA1 DA35 L435
comes before
CA1 DA35 88 L55