May 1

How to sort books according to the Library of Congress call number system
Background
All of the libraries on WashU campus organize books by the Library of Congress call number
system. In order to properly sort books into correct call number order you need to know more
about what each line of the call number means and how it is formatted. Call numbers are printed
on a spine label, which is typically found on the spine towards the bottom or on the front cover in
the bottom left corner.

Prerequisites
 The call number is typically made up of at least three lines of letters and numbers.
 The first letter of the first line divides all of the books by subject or class such as M for
music and K for Law.
 The second letter further narrows the scope of the class of the book. For example, over all
P’s are Language and Literature, but PS’s specifically are American Literature.
 The number following these two letters is typically a whole number though it can be
followed by a decimal. Sometimes the decimal part is printed on the second line, but it is
still considered part of the first line. When ordering they go in increasing value (eg.1, 1.1,
10, 100, 1000 etc.).
 The second line is the author code. It has only one letter (usually the first letter of the
author’s last name) followed by a decimal and is unique to each author in that class. The
period to indicate the decimal is not always printed (eg O.93 or O93)
 While all spine labels have at least two lines, any that follow are optional. The next three
lines appear in the order they are mentioned, but not all books have all of them.
 The third line is the title code. The letter is often the first letter of the title, which is
followed by a decimal. Decimals are ordered in increasing value (eg .1, .12, .123, .2, .23,
.234).
 The fourth line is the year the book was published. Earlier publications of a book go before
later.
 The fifth line (or fourth if there is no year) is the volume number. The volume number can
be noted in a variety of ways including: vol. #, v.#, bd. #, #. Volumes are ordered in
increasing value.
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 The sixth line (or four or fifth) is the copy number, which is noted c. #.
 For the fourth line on, nothing comes before something, which means that of two call
numbers that are the same up to the fourth line, the call number without a year comes before
a call number with a year.
Danger: While sorting, don’t try to pick up more than one book at a time (especially when
sorting large journals) as there is an increased risk of injury due to dropping the heavy volumes
on your own feet.

Directions:
Note: For each step, maintain the order of the line above. If you have any questions please ask a
student coordinator.
1. Order the books loosely by the letters of the first line of the call number
B1000 BC250 D1534 P3546 PN56 PN1995.91 PQ6000 PR4637 PS3569

2. Futher put in order by the first line number (Don't forget this number is not a decimal though
it can have decimal places)
PN 56 PN56.1 PN56 PN1995.9 PN1995.91
.2

3. Put in order by the second line letter

PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995 PN1996
.A25 .B25 .91 .C6
.A3

4. Further order by second line number (Don't forget these are decimals not whole numbers
even if there isn’t a decimal typed)
PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995 PN1995.1
.A1 .A25 .A251 .1 A3
.A27

5. While maintaining the first and second line order, put in order by the third line letter if there
is one (Remember nothing comes before something)
 May 3

6. Further order by third line number (Don't forget these are decimals not whole numbers even
if there isn’t a decimal typed)
PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1
.A1 .A1 .A25 .A25 .A25 .A251 .A251
A159 A3 2017 C7 Z65 c.3

7. Order by year. (Nothing comes before something)

PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1
.A1 .A1 .A25 .A25 .A25
A159 A159 2017 C7 Z65
2005 2017 2004 1998

8. Put in order by volume number (Nothing comes before something)

PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1
.A1 .A1 .A25 .A25 .A25
A159 A159 2017 C7 C7
2005 2005 V.1 1917 2018
Vol.1 Vol.2 1 100

9. Put in order by copy (Nothing comes before something)

PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1 PN1995.1
.A25 .A25 .A25 .A25 .A25 .A25
c.2 c.3 2017 2017 2017
V.1 V.1 V.2
c.2 c.3

10. Check to make sure that you didn't get the first few lines out of order while you put the later
lines in order.

Results
The books should now be in the Library of Congress call number order. The books are now
easily searchable by call number and can also be reshelved easily.

Next step
The books can now be taken to the stacks and returned to their proper location on the shelves.