Anatomy of the Call Number Book Title: Uncensored War: The Media and Vietnam Author: Daniel C. Hallin Call Number: DS559.45.H35 1986 |
The first two lines of the call number described the subject of the book.
DS559.45 = Vietnamese Conflict
The third line often represents the author's last name.
H = Hallin
The last line represents the date of publication.
Year = 1986
The Third line of the sample illustration on the left box ".H35" is called Cutter number (author Cutter). The first letter "H" represents the author's name or the title of the work. It is a combination where you read the letter alphabetically first then the number as a decimal:
C554 comes after C55, but before C63 n a Cutter number.
Some books will have extra letters on their spine labels that come before the call number starts. Like this one:
REF
GE
20
.E586
2010/11
Those are called collection codes and they tell you which of the library collections the book belongs to. At the Thurgood Marshall Library we use several different collection codes.
REF - Reference collection
MEDIA - Media collection (Videos, DVDs, and CDs)
CURLB - Curriculum Lab
RES - Reserves
LEIRD - Leisure Reading Collection