Answered By: Ian Hertz
Last Updated: Oct 09, 2019     Views: 122

Items are shelved by call number in both alphabetical and numerical order (HF 1359 J36 2001)

  • The first set of letters are shelved in alphabetical order: A comes before AC, before AD, and before B, etc. H comes before HB, before HF, before R, and before RT, etc
  • The following set of numbers are treated as whole numbers and shelved in numerical order: H45 before H46, before HA12 before HA126 before HC100, before HF1359 etc.
  • The second set of letters (after the decimal point) are in alphabetical order: H1359.J comes before H1359.K, before H1359.N, etc.
  • The numbers after a decimal point are read as decimals: H45.B62 is before H45.B63, before H45.B633, before H45.B67

    An easy way to understand this is to add zeros to the decimal in order to create the same number of digits. Then read them as you would whole numbers. In this example, the decimals would change to read: H45.B620 is before H45.B630, before H45.B633, before H45.B670

The physical location in the library can be found by comparing the call number with this book locator.

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