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shelf mark

Historically, a mark or code written on or affixed to

amanuscriptorprintedbook, indicating its proper physical location in a

specificlibrary, precursor of thecall number. Shelf marks are helpfultobibliographers andantiquarians in identifying individual manuscripts.Click

hereto see a shelf mark on the frontcoverof a 15th-century

Latinreader(Royal Library of Denmark) andhereto see one on thefore-

edgeof thesections (Princeton Univeristy Library).

call number

A unique codeprintedon alabelaffixed to the outside of anitemin alibrary

collection, usually to the lowerspineof abookorvideocassette(seetheseexamples), also printed or handwritten on a label inside the item. Assigned

by thecataloger, the call number is also displayed in thebibliographic

recordthat represents the item in thelibrarycatalog, to identify the

specificcopyof theworkand give its relativelocationon the shelf.

In mostcollections, a call number is composed of aclassificationnumber

followed by additionalnotationto make the call number unique. This gives a

classified arrangement to the libraryshelvesthat facilitatesbrowsing.

Generally, theclass numberis followed by anauthor markto distinguish thework from others of the same class, followed by awork markto distinguish

thetitlefrom other works of the same class by the sameauthor, and

sometimes otherinformationsuch aspublication date,volume number,copy

number, andlocation symbol.

InLibrary of Congress Classification(LCC), used by

mostacademicandresearch librariesin the United States, class notation

begins withletters of the Englishalphabet(example:PN 2035.H336 1991).

InDewey Decimal Classification(DDC), used by mostpublicandschool

librariesin the United States, class notation consists ofarabic numerals

(example:480.0924 W3). U.S. federalgovernment documentsare

assignedSuDocsnumbers (example:L 2.2:M 76).

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