Word of the Day:“Call Number”A combination of numbers and

letters which is used to identify a particular book or item in a

library's collection. Items are arranged on the shelves by call

number.

Information

Sources and Classification

Where does Information Come From?

Where does Information Come From? People TV Newspaper Internet Magazines Journals Books

Information CycleProduced by Penn State

University Library

www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/infocycle/infocycle.html

The Organization of Information Libraries organize and catalog information

so people can find it

Organizing information is subjective

Information seekers approach a search in different ways

Classification in Libraries

An attempt to organize materials with the same subject matter together.

Used to make sense of the vast amount of information available

Classification SystemsLibraries try to shelve materials about the same

subject together - classification systems are used to assign a call number to a book, specifies location on the shelf

Many books are about more than one idea – but have to end up in just one place on the shelf.

Two major classification systems Dewey Decimal System Library of Congress Classification System

Why Two Systems?? Dewey Decimal System

Used by most public and school libraries Places books into subject categories

Library of Congress Used by the Library of Congress, large public

libraries and most academic, special and research libraries

The LOC designed subject headings around the books in their collection

The Dewey Decimal System Designed by Melvil Dewey, 1876

Prior to Dewey, patrons were not allowed to get their own books

“All the world’s knowledge” in 10 broad numeric

categories Western cultural bias

New knowledge & disciplines require new subject categories

Library of Congress Developed by Library of Congress, Washington

D.C., early 1900’s Dewey was not considered flexible enough Used by most research & academic libraries and

many larger public libraries Knowledge organized into 21 categories, A - Z

missing I, O, W, X and Y Many, many sub-categories Unlike Dewey, doesn’t attempt to divide all

knowledge, but is based on actual books owned by Library of Congress

Where would I find a book on Accounting??

Dewey

300 Social Sciences320 Political Sciences330 Economics340 Law

Library of Congress

H: Social Sciences and Business

HD: Industries, Land Use, Labor

HG: Finance (money, accounting, banking, investment)

J: Political Science

K: Law

Subject Headings An “official” way to organize and classify

information.

A term or phrase to group together materials on the same topic.

Why do we care??We can research topics based on subject headings.

Using Subject Headings

Classification (call number) gives you only limited information

Subject headings describe what a book (or video, article, etc.) is about using standardized language (controlled vocabulary)

Most important, users (you!) can search for information using subject headings

ReferencesMinneapolis Community and Technical College

http://www.minneapolis.edu/library/courses/infs1000/INFS1000PP_files/frame.htm

Penn State University Libraryhttp://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/infocycle/infocycle.html