{"id":15363,"date":"2023-05-02T22:30:38","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T05:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wcclibrary.reclaim.hosting\/abbyk\/?p=4187"},"modified":"2026-06-10T10:02:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:02:24","slug":"understand-the-parts-of-a-call-number-to-find-library-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/understand-the-parts-of-a-call-number-to-find-library-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Understand the parts of a call number to find library books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Library of Congress call number is a unique identifier assigned to each book or other item in a library&#8217;s collection. It is composed of several parts that indicate the item&#8217;s subject, location, and other information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/call-number-1024x759.jpeg\" alt=\"Call number stickers on library books.\" class=\"wp-image-15420\" width=\"512\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/call-number-1024x759.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/call-number-300x222.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/call-number-768x570.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/call-number-1536x1139.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/call-number-2048x1519.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Letters.<\/strong> The first part of the call number is one or more letters, which indicate the item&#8217;s subject area. These letters are called the &#8220;classification&#8221; or &#8220;class&#8221; number, and there are twenty-one main classes, each with its own range of letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Numbers.<\/strong> Following the letters are one or more numbers, which indicate the item&#8217;s specific subject within the broader subject area indicated by the letters. These numbers are called the &#8220;subclass&#8221; or &#8220;subclassification&#8221; number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Decimal point.<\/strong> After the subclassification number, there is a decimal point, which separates it from the next part of the call number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>More numbers.<\/strong> Following the decimal point are one or more numbers, which indicate the specific item within the subclassification. These numbers are called the &#8220;book&#8221; or &#8220;item&#8221; number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cutter number.<\/strong> Some call numbers may also include a &#8220;Cutter&#8221; number, which is a series of letters and numbers that help identify the author or title of the item.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Additional information.<\/strong> The call number may also include additional information such as volume number, edition, or year of publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By understanding the different parts of a Library of Congress call number, you can locate items more easily within a library&#8217;s collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Library of Congress call number is a unique identifier assigned to each book or other item in a library&#8217;s collection. It is composed of several parts that indicate the item&#8217;s subject, location, and other information. Letters. The first part of the call number is one or more letters, which indicate the item&#8217;s subject area. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[347],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tutorials"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15363"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15423,"href":"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15363\/revisions\/15423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/librarywp.whatcom.edu\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}