Technews Bulletin
June 2000
ISSUE #7
*CUTTERS * CUTTERS * CUTTERS
* CUTTERS *
"Why does the label say 970.3
Sem when the author's name is Bond?
Shouldn't it be
970.3 Bon?"
"Why is GED on the label?"
"What are the extra numbers added to Shakespeare's call
number?"
It's Cutter time! Yes, folks
that's what those 3 letters are called. Usually they are derived
from the first three letters of the author's last name and are
located at the end of a call number. The cutter is used to
facilitate shelving of library materials. Imagine if all books were
shelved only by their Dewey number. It would be very difficult to
locate a specific title if you had to look through shelves of books
with the same number, such as 649.1 (parenting) or 641.5
(cookbooks). That's where the cutter comes in. It narrows the
searching considerably by adding to a call number either the first
three letters of the author's last name or the first three letters
of the title if no author is present. There are areas in our
collection in which a different cuttering scheme is preferred. In
some areas titles are cuttered by subject rather than author. In
these places we have many titles and it's important to arrange
similar topics together. One subject area is professional sports
teams (cuttered by name of team, such as Miami Heat or Dallas
Cowboys). Still another is literary criticisms of specific authors (cuttered
by name of subject, such as Steinbeck, John or Poe,
Edgar Allan). The three questions above represent a few of our other
chosen subjects.
NATIVE AMERICAN PEOPLES have long
been placed in our collection at 970.3. You many not have realized
that they were also arranged by tribal name. For example: 970.3 Sem (Seminoles), 970.3 Ogl (Oglala Sioux), 970.3 Hop (Hopi). We derive these cutters from the subject heading for that
group. This way they are shelved together and not scattered as they
would be with an author cutter. This is most prevalent in the
children's sections, but is also found with adult titles.
A more recent addition to subject
cuttering are EXAM BOOKS, such as GED or SAT. These are cuttered
under the acronym for the specific test.
Ah, SHAKESPEARE! For the past couple
of years we've added an additional cutter to Shakespeare books
indicating whether the book was a play, a criticism of the play or
maybe a criticism of all of Shakespeare's works. Take, for example,
the comedy As You Like It. The individual play is 822.33 Sha
O3 and a criticism would be 822.33 Sha O4. In this way, any book on As
You Like It would be shelved together. General criticisms of
Shakespeare's works would be 822.33 Sha D. These additional cutters
are part of the Dewey Decimal System schedules which were designed
to offer a more thorough location indicator for such a large
collection of works.
This newsletter editor would appreciate your suggestions for
future issues.
Please send them to Sue Bermann, Technical Services (or e-mail bermanns@pbclibrary.org)
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