The purpose of this document is to give some general guidelines on constructing call numbers using the Cataloging Department's local classification and/or cuttering practices. Use these local practices instead of LC's only for the following exceptional categories of materials:
For a complete description of these categories, see General Call Number Policy.
The cutter number consists of an initial letter followed by 2, 3, or more Arabic numerals and, usually, a work mark (one or more lower case letters). These cutter numbers subarrange works alphabetically by main entry. If the main entry is an author, titles are distinguished by the work mark and often by the date of publication. The main entries represented by the cutter number may be persons, corporate bodies, titles, etc.
If the first letters of the main entry fall between two numbers in the Cutter table, use or build on the first number. Do not end a cutter in "0." Unless absolutely necessary, do not end a cutter in "1" because it impedes future insertions. For example, if you must add between D63 and D631, you are forced to add a zero plus a digit to expand to 4 or 5 numbers. If the number suggested in the Cutter table has been used for another main entry, adjust the number for your work either up or down in order to maintain alphabetical order in the shelflist.
In general, use three Arabic numerals following the initial letter. Fewer numerals may be used if needed to agree with already assigned numbers; more than three numerals may be used in order to fit an entry into its correct place in the shelflist.
Work marks are used with single cutter numbers (although in certain cases they can also be used with double cutters) and are usually taken from the title of the item. They are a way to distinguish between titles and also to keep titles with the same main entry and class number in alphabetical order. Work marks consist of lower case letters which are added to the end of the cutter number. If a cutter number with a work mark has already been established for the main entry in a given classification, expand an existing work mark to distinguish the work in hand.
Occasionally there may need to be more than a single letter, or the work mark may have to be arbitrarily selected with the result that titles under the same main entry may not be in alphabetical order:
F Caen, Herbert
869 The San Francisco Book
S3C115
F Caen, Herbert
869 Baghdad-by-the-Bay
S3C115b
When it is necessary to use the lower-case "l" in a work mark, use a script l in the book and on the workform. This character will be input as the typed letter "l". When it is necessary to use a capital letter "O", add a hook at the top to distinguish it from the number zero. The computer keyboard distinguishes between these two characters so it will be entered correctly as the letter "O".
Use the date of publication as the last element of the call number to distinguish between editions of the same work. For conference publications use the date of the conference instead of the date of publication.
Locally established biographical, geographical and topical cutters will be continued only for the exceptions listed above.
Reproduced below is the local biography cutter table we have used in the past; follow it now only for the exceptional categories for local call number practice. In all other cases, use the LC biography table and Appendix A: Bibliography Numbers for Literary Authors (Individual Authors and Works.
x Cutter number for the individual
xA2 Autobiography
xA3 Letters
xA32 Letters to one person (represented by work mark
from the last name of that person)
xA4 Journals
Sometimes the first cutter number used is for specific literary authors. When classed in a national literature (P-PZ), the first cutter is an author notation and the second cutter follows special rules described under the individual literary numbers given on the following pages.
When dealing with translations under UCLA's cuttering system, place a capital letter which represents the language of the translation (E = English, F = French, etc.) after the work mark standing for the title. Use a second letter in lower case when necessary (F = French, Fi = Finnish). If the cataloger cannot determine the original title, assign a work mark from the title in hand and omit the capital letter which represents the language of the translation.
If the call number of the original work ends in a letter according to UCLA's local cuttering practice, use the digit "1" after the work mark for an abridgement or selections. Use the letter "a" if the original work's call number ends in a digit.
Do not continue to routinely use "A" cuttering for government documents except when using the call number of an earlier edition as the basis for assigning a new call number or when accepting the LC call number on cataloging for older material. (See Documents.)
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Last updated: 24 October, 1995
Maintained by Cataloging Department, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA. Louise Ratliff, Editor lratliff@library.ucla.edu