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Library Policy: Collection Arrangement

Library Collections

How the Book Collection is Arranged

The Georgia Highlands College Library abides by the Library of Congress Classification Scheme. The Library of Congress Class System is an alpha-numeric system (meaning a combination of letters and numbers). The collection is first divided into 21 major subject categories with preceded by a letter. For instance, books on Science are found in the “Q” section.

A-General Works

B-Philosophy, Psychology, Religion

C-Biographies

D-World History

E-American History

F-State & Regional History

G-Geography, Maps, Anthropology, and Recreation

H-Social Sciences

J-Political Science

K-Law

L-Education

M-Music

N-Art

P-Language & Literature

Q-Math & Science

R-Medicine

S-Agriculture

T -Technology

U-Military Science

V-Naval Science

Z-Library Science

The subject categories are further divided into more specific designations.

For example:

QA-Mathematics   QE-Geology QM-Human Anatomy
QB-Astronomy QH-Natural History QP-Physiology
QC-Physics QK-Botany QR-Microbiology
QD-Chemistry QL Zoology

Locating Your Book or Periodical

The spine of the book contains four sections of numeric information. Arranged in vertical order from top to bottom on the spine, a fictitious example of a 1990 Chemistry book written by Peter Hamlet might look like this:

QD-Introductory chemistry (LC Class Designation)

26.5-The Number for Alchemy (a sub classification within Chemistry)

H35-the Cutter Number (the H is the author’s last name)

1990-Publication Year

Arrangement of Book Collection

All books are arranged in a progressive alphanumeric order on the shelf.

Example of how they should appear on the shelf:

QA10, QA72, QA88, QA105, QA227, QA309, QA574, QA1009, QA2342, QA2571

It is not so important that you understand every category of the LC Class Scheme as much as you understand where to go in the library to find a particular book.

Arrangement of Journal and Periodical collections

Journal and Periodical holdings are displayed in Alphabetical order by title.

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