Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
Why a call number is an address
A call number tells you where one library put a copy, not what the book means.
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From the opening
A call number is the mark a library puts on an item so a person can walk to the shelf where that library keeps it. It joins a classification, which chooses the neighborhood, to further marks that order items inside that neighborhood. The opening covers a class plus a book number, why another library differs, and prefixes that change the room.
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Inside
- A class plus a book number
- Why another library differs
- Prefixes that change the room
- An address, not an ISBN
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Relative location in a classified shelf order
- Cutter numbers as book addresses within a class