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List:       publib
Subject:    [Publib] RE: Cuttering call nos.
From:       mfurukaw () lakeco ! lib ! in ! us (Mark Furukawa)
Date:       2005-07-30 11:36:07
Message-ID: 005a01c5951c$6c42b0a0$c869010a () GRWL237
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Cutter? What's cutter? Oh, yeah, I haven't seen cutter numbers since
Cataloging class 30 years ago.

We have about 1.2 million items in our collection, housed in 12 libraries.
We use the first four letters of the authors last name as the workmark for
fiction and nonfiction. This works fine for nonfiction - seldom is there
multiple authors with the same initial four letters in their last name in
the same call number. We shelve by call number, then workmark, then title.
(A couple of years ago we started adding a 3rd line in the 629.2s with the
initial 4 letters of the auto make so Ford manuals are all together, GM
after that ...). We do our biographies weird. The "call number" is 'B' (for
biography!) followed by the first 3 letters of the subject and a workmark of
the first 4 letters of the author. E.g.
B LIN
MART
We shelve these, at the end of the Dewey books, by the subject's full name,
then by workmark, then by title. This is confusing to staff and patrons
alike but we also don't want to relabel everything.

In fiction, we shelve by author's full last name, then first name, then
title even though the workmark is only the initial 4 letters of the author's
last name. 

As you can see, we have been a mite-bit creative in our cataloging
methodology (which gripes the present-day catalogers no end).

The shorter workmark allows for smaller labels and/or larger print for our
aging readers' eyes (i.e., so I can read the labels on the bottom shelf with
my bifocals). Smaller labels means less cost, less stuff on the spine
getting covered by the label. Less information on the label makes a
simpler/cleaner look which tends to be a bit less intimidating to patrons.
We also (mostly) limit the Dewey number to no more than 4 digits to the
right of the decimal for the same reason. Using the same workmark for
fiction and nonfiction theoretically helps patrons transition between the
two collections, only having to learn what the Dewey Decimal System instead
of two totally different looking labels (but, then there's the biographies).


Mark Furukawa, Branch Head
Calumet Township Branches of
Lake County Public Library
Griffith Branch Library
940 N. Broad St.
Griffith, IN 46319-1528 (USA)
(219)838-2825
mfurukaw@lakeco.lib.in.us
http://www.lakeco.lib.in.us/caltwp.htm


          May I deal with honor,
          May I act with courage,
          May I achieve humility.
                    from "Straight"
                    by Dick Francis


|Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 11:11:54 -0500
|From: "Cranmer, Donna" <donnac@siouxland.lib.sd.us>
|Subject: [Publib] Cuttering call nos.
|
|Hi everyone,
|<snip>
|	We would like to take an informal survey of libraries to
|determine how many may still be using the Cutter method. 
|
|	Also if you have made the decision to change your method of
|creating call nos. in the last few years, please reply with 
|any problems
|or caveats that you have encountered. Concerns from staff, issues
|gleaned from patrons, etc. Thanks in advance.
|
|		Donna


Tracking #: ED2EFC9BAE9DD44F998158F2BCCFC5130824A52F

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