Call Numbers-Social Welfare Library-University of California, Berkeley

Understanding the call number system

Call number basics
How call numbers are shelved
Using call numbers to browse
Significant call numbers in the Social Welfare Library

Call number basics

Academic libraries, including those at UC Berkeley, catalog their books using the Library of Congress (LC) classification system. Through a combination of letters and numbers, an LC call number identifies both a precise subject area and a precise book within that subject area. This allows books on similar subjects to be grouped near each other on the shelves and facilitates browsing. It also allows any given title and edition to have its own unique call number.

The first element of the call number consists of letters and a number and identifies the subject matter of the item. Read left to right, the element moves from broadest to specific subject.

For example, consider this book:

HV95.A753 2000
Anderson, Linda P.
The social welfare system in the United States : a social worker's guide to public benefits programs / by Linda P. Anderson. Boston : Allyn and Bacon, c2000

H denotes the broadest subject group, "Social sciences." HV denotes the sub-category, "Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology." The call number range HV85-HV525 subdivides HV by region or country; HV85-HV99 is the range for works about the United States. Here, HV95 is specifically about "Policy, United States." HV89 denotes "Directories, United States," for example, while HV91 denotes "General works and history, United States."

The second element in the call number above -- A753 -- is the "Cutter number." This usually identifies the the author (the A in A753 is derived from "Anderson"), but it may also be derived from the title or may be a further subdivision of the subject classification in the first element. Many books have two Cutter numbers, and sometimes more.

The third element in the call number above -- 2000 -- identifies the date of publication; 2000, in this case. This element helps distinguish different editions of a title.

For an official list of classifications, see the Library of Congress classification outline.

How call numbers are shelved

LC call numbers are shelved using intuitive and counter-intuitive interpretation. The general rules are:

First element (HV95). Read this using common sense. Read left to right, the letters and numbers act as you would expect them to. Thus, the Hs come after the Gs and before the Js. The HVs comes after the HTs and before the HXs. 95 comes after 91 and before 99. 184 comes before 184.86 and after 183.625.
Second element -- the Cutter number (A753). Again, the letters act as you would expect. A comes for B, and so on. The numbers, on the other hand, are decimals. This means you must compare them one digit placeholder at a time. Also, blanks always come before non-blanks. So, A69 comes before A7 (the 6 is less than the 7). A7 comes before A74 (the first call number equals A7blank, so it comes before A74). A74 comes before A753 (the 7s are the same, so look to the next digit. The 4 is less than the 5.) A753 comes before A92 (the 7 is less than the 9).
Third element (2000). These are dates and read commonsensically. 1995 comes before 2000. Blanks come before non-blanks. Thus, HV95.A4 comes before HV95.A4 1997. Not all call numbers have this third element.

Here's a typical call number run using these rules:

BF	E	E	HM	HQ
139	184	184.86	251	72
S55	D1 E25	A23	B4	F356
	1994	2001		1992

HQ	HV	HV	HV	HV
72	741	741	741	741
F74	C5	C53125	C54	C6
	1992	1996		2000

Using call numbers to browse

Knowing how call numbers work allows you to browse shelves effectively. Browsing is an excellent research technique. The LC system groups material together on the shelves by subject. From a given call number, immediately adjacent you will find other items on the same subject. As you move away from the call number, you will find items on similar or related subjects. For instance, HV741 groups items on general child welfare issues; HV851 covers day care; HV875 deals with adoption; HV881, with foster care.

When you do a catalog search, you usually generate a list of specific call numbers. While looking for those call numbers, take a few minutes to browse the surrounding call numbers for other material. It could yield useful and surprising material.

You can do a "virtual browse" of the collection with a call number search in either Melvyl, using the browse function, or Pathfinder. Either catalog will search for the call numbers that begin with the characters you put in the search field. The more characters you enter, the more precise your search will be. For instance, you can search "HV," or "HV741," or HV741 A."

You can also identify prospective call numbers to browse by looking at the Library of Congress classification outline or by consulting the list below.

Significant call numbers in the Social Welfare Library

Call numbers in the library's collection run from A to Z but are concentrated in certain areas. Here's a rough guide to some of most common call numbers in our collection. For a complete guide, consult the Library of Congress classification outline.

BF		PSYCHOLOGY
	173-175	Psychoanalysis
	511-593	Affection, feeling, emotion. Includes bereavement, stress, anger, grief
	636-637	Applied psychology, counseling, behavior modification
	712-724	Developmental psychology, including child, adolescent, adult development; life cycle
	789	Death and dying

E - F		HISTORY. UNITED STATES. Includes history & status of Native Americans, African-Americans, Latinos; race relations

H		SOCIAL SCIENCES (GENERAL)

HA		STATISTICS

HM		SOCIOLOGY (GENERAL)

HN		SOCIAL HISTORY & CONDITIONS, SOCIAL PROBLEMS, SOCIAL REFORM

HQ		FAMILY, MARRIAGE
	12-64	Sexuality
	72-74	Incest
	535-734	Families and family dynamics
	755-759	Parents and parenting
	767-799	Children, child development; adolescents, adulthood
	809	Family violence
	811-960	Divorce
	1060-1064	Aging and the aged

HV		SOCIAL WORK
	11	Social work schools, education, research methods
	40-45	General work, group work, case work
	91-95	US social welfare history, policy
	640-645	Refugee problems
	687	Social work in health care
	689-699	Social work with families
	700-713	Child abuse
	741	Child welfare, general
	875-883	Adoption, foster care
	1442-1448	Women and social work
	1449	Gays & lesbians
	1450-1493	Social work and the elderly
	1551-3024	Disability and social work
	3176	Multicultural issues, cultural competence
	4045	Poverty
	4505	Homelessness and homeless persons
	4998-5825	Drug abuse, alcoholism, substance abuse
	6545	Suicide
	6885-6626	Rape, violence against women, domestic violence
	9000	Criminology, gangs, juvenile delinquency, prisons

KF		LAW, including legal issues in social work

R		MEDICINE, including ethics, psychology, terminal care

RA		PUBLIC HEALTH, including community mental health, home health care services

RC		PSYCHIATRY, PSYCHOANALYSIS
	451	Mental health of specific populations, inc. elderly, racial & ethnic minorities
	454	Abnormal psychology
	480	Psychotherapy
	488.5	Marital therapy, family therapy
	489	Behavioral therapy
	512-552	Psychoses & neuroses
	554-569.5	Personality disorders & behavior problems, inc. sexual problems, drug abuse, suicide, child abuse

RJ	499-507	CHILD PSYCHIATRY, including mental disorders of children and adolescents

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