On Thu, Nov 28, 2002 at 11:30:51AM -0500, Andrew Arensburger wrote:
Naive question: does LC indicate the topic, just like Dewey? Or is it more generally a code that tells you where to find a given book?
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If the LC ultimately determines the physical location of a given book, then its purpose is different from the Dewey code: books with similar call numbers would be close to each other on the shelf, whereas books with similar Dewey numbers would be close to each other in the catalog.
I have a somewhat extreme example to help me visualize the problem: say there's a geographic library that mainly has maps, with some random number of books. This library might be organized geographically, with "Geological map of England" and "Tourist's Guide to London" on the same bookshelf. Perhaps this library uses longitude and latitude as the local call number. In this library, it could be useful to be able to search both by local call number ("What do you have about New York?") and by topic/Dewey ("Which political atlases do you have?").
Hmm, I thought that both Dewey and LC have similar functions. But then I'm not a librarian. My understanding is that the primary function of both Dewey and LC is to determine the physical locations of a book; they just happen to also indicate a "primary" topic (whatever that means). The "real" classification (assignment of subject headings) use a list such as Sears (usually used together with Dewey) or the LC subject headings (usually used together with the LC code). Multiple subject headings can be assigned, and in the case of MARC these are placed in the 6XX and 7XX fields. In the case of having multiple topics in a book (which is usually the case), the librarian doing the cataloguing would decide which is the "primary" topic and use that as a basis to assign the call number. My two cents' worth (my naive answer); don't know how accruate it is :P -- Ambrose Li ``A good style should show no sign of effort; what is written should seem a happy accident.'' ~ Somerset Maugham