The Library of Congress is the most commonly used classification system employed by the NSU Libraries which catalogs our books by topic. It includes a letter (or letters) followed by numbers and letters and should be read in alphabetical order, then numerically. If there are multiple volumes or copies of an item, the ending of the call number will read either "Vol. [Number of volume]" or Cop. [what copy that book is]." For more information about the Library of Congress classification system, visit the Library of Congress Classification Outline or the University of Hawaii's LibGuide on reading call numbers.
Components of the Call Number
The picture above has the call number NK9500.M45 2002, where N represents the Main Class (art), K represents the subclass (decorative art), 9500 narrows the topic further (textile art), the M45 after the decimal is the Cutter Number (in this case, it represents the author's last name), and the "2002" represent the year of publication. If the book is part of a multi-volume set (and/or the university owns multiple copies of the same title), that will be indicated as well (Vol. #, or Cop. # respectively).
How Call Number Looks in the NSU Discovery Catalog
In the NSU Discovery catalog, the first line of the entry indicates that the item is available, the second line indicates the campus and the collection where it's available, and the third line provides the complete call number for locating the item on the shelf.
How Call Numbers Look on the Shelf
On the shelf, the Library of Congress call number is stacked into three to five lines (or more), with the main class and subclass on the first line, followed by the number that narrows the topic, then the cutter number (which allows for the arrangement of books alphabetically by the author and title), followed (when applicable) by the publication year. In some cases, there may also be a row for a volume number and/or a copy number.