Save Space for “Newcomers”– Analyzing Problems in Book Number Assignment Under the LCC System

With more than a million books published each year, thousands of books will be cataloged and shelved in libraries. Assigning book numbers efficiently and balancing the distribution of main entries over the LC Cutter Table entries have become critical issues for shelving later entries in libraries using the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) system. This paper aims to explore and discuss the problems in assigning book numbers (Cutter numbers) to printed materials under the LCC System. The existing problems have blocked or invaded the usage of some numbers and letters ruled by the LC Cutter Table. The reason is either not following the LC Cutter Table well, or confusion in using the Table. Directly downloading the LC record to the local database adds more questions to the issue. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]