Library Policy: Collection Arrangement

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:

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.