A Library Primer

by John Cotton Dana

[Non-local subjects are marked with letters, first, to distinguish them from local subjects; and, second, because of the greater capacity.] There are 26 main classes, A to Z. By adding a second letter these are divided into 676 parts, and these, by adding a third letter, into 17,576 parts, making 18,278 in all, so that as one uses successively three, four, or five characters, one gets respectively 18 times, 46 times, and 118 times the capacity of a decimal notation. The result is, short marks, numerous subdivisions, much greater elasticity, much greater power to properly express the relations of subjects to one another, and their relations to subordinate subjects, and much more opportunity of making the different portions of the classification correspond to each other.

The first part of the classification, as published, contains the first six classifications and a combined index to them all. The seventh, the fullest classification, will have 10 sections. Five of them are published, each with its own index. Of two (Social sciences and Language and literature) about half is published. When these and the other three (Natural sciences, Industrial arts, Recreative and fine arts) are printed, a full index to the whole will be made.

Expansive classification. Outline

A	Generalia.
A	General works.
Ae	General encyclopedias.
Ap	General periodicals.
Ar	Reference works.
As	General societies.
[B-D]	Spiritual sciences.
B	Philosophy.
Ba-Bf	National Philosophies and Systems of philosophy.
Bg	Metaphysics.
Bh	Logic.
Bi	Psychology.
Bm	Moral Philosophy.
Br	Religion, Natural theology.
Bt	Religions
Bu	Folk-lore.
Ca	Judaism.
Cb	Bible.
Cc	Christianity.
Cce	Patristics.
Ce	Apologetics, Evidences.
Cf	Doctrinal theology.
Ck	Ethical theology.
Cp	Ritual theology and church Polity.
Cx	Pastoral theology.
Cz	Sermons.
D	Ecclesiastical history.
Dk	Particular churches and sects.
E-G	Historical sciences.
E	Biography and Portraits.
F-Fz	History.
F	Universal history.
F02	Ancient history.
F03	Modern history.
F04	Medieval history.
F11-F99	History of single countries (using local list).
Fa-Fw	Allied studies, as Chronology, Philosophy of history, History ofCivilization, Antiquities, Numismatics, Chivalry, Heraldry.
G	Geography, Travels.
G11-G99	Single countries (using local list).
Ga	Ancient geography.
Gf	Surveying and Map-making.
Gz	Maps.
[H]	Social sciences.
Hb	Statistics.
Hc	Economics.
He	Production.
Hf	Labor.
Hi	Slavery.
Hj	Transportation.
Hk	Commerce.
Hm	Money.
Hn	Banking.
Hr	Private finance.
Ht	Taxation and Public finance.
Hu	Tariff.
Hw	Property, Capital.
Hz	Consumption.
I	Demotics, Sociology.
Ic	Crime.
Ig	Charity.
Ih	Providence.
Ik	Education.
J	Civics, Government, Political science.
Ju	Constitutions and Politics.
K	Law and Legislation.
Kd	Public documents.
L-Q	Natural sciences.
L	General works, Metrics.
L	Number and space.
Lb	Mathematics.
Lh-Lr Matter and force.
Lh	Physics.
Lo	Chemistry.
Lr	Astronomy.
M-Q	Matter and life
M	Natural history.
[Mg]	Geology, incl. Mineralogy, Crystallography, Physical geography, Meteorology, Paleontology.
My	Biology.
N	Botany.
	Cryptogams.
	Phanerogams.
O	Zoology.
	Invertebrates.
P	Vertebrates.
Pg	Mammals.
Pw	Anthropology, Ethnology, Ethnography.
Q	Medicine.
Q-Z	Arts.
R	General works, Exhibitions, Patents.
Rd-Rg	Extractive arts.
Rd	Mining.
Re	Metallurgy.
Rf	Agriculture.
Rh	Horticulture.
Ri	Silviculture.
Rj	Animaliculture.
Rq	Chemic arts.
Rt	Electric arts.
Ry	Domestic arts.
Rz	Food and Cookery.
S	Constructive arts, Engineering.
Sg	Building.
Sj	Sanitary engineering.
Sl	Hydraulic engineering.
St	Transportation and Communication.
T	Fabricative arts, Machinery, Manufactures,and Handicrafts.
U	Protective arts, i. e., Military and Navalarts, Life-preserving, Fire fighting.
[V]	Athletic and Recreative arts, Sports andGames.
Vs	Gymnastics.
Vt	Theater.
Vv	Music.
W	Fine arts, plastic and graphic.
We	Landscape gardening.
Wf	Architecture.
Wj	Sculpture.
Wk	Casting, Baking, Firing.
Wm	Drawing.
Wp	Painting.
Wq	Engraving.
Wr	Photography.
Ws	Decorative arts, including Costume.
X-Yf	Communicative arts (by language).
X	Philology.
X	Inscriptions.
X	Language.
Y	Literature.
Yf	English Fiction.
Z	Book arts (making and use of books).
Za-Zk	Production.
Za	Authorship.
Zb	Rhetoric.
Zd	Writing.
Zh	Printing.
Zk	Binding.
Zl	Distribution (Publishing and Bookselling).
Zp	Storage and Use (Libraries).
Zt	Description (Zt Bibliography; Zx Selection of reading; Zy Literary history; Zz National bibliography.)

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[CHAPTER XXIII]

Author-numbers, or book-marks

The books in a given group or class should stand on the shelves in the alphabetical order of their authors' names, though this is not necessary in a small library. This result is best secured by adding to the class-mark of every book another mark, called an author-number or book-number or book-mark, made up of the first letter of the author's name and certain figures. Books bearing these author-numbers, if arranged first alphabetically by the letters, and then in the numerical order of the numbers following the letters, will always stand in the alphabetical order of the authors' names. Different books by the same author are distinguished from one another by adding other figures to the author-number, or by adding to the author-numbers the first letter of the title of each book.

These book-marks cannot be chosen arbitrarily. They should be taken from the printed set of them worked out by Mr Cutter, and called the Cutter author-tables. (See Library Bureau catalog.)

In a very small library the books in a given class can be distinguished one from another by writing after the class-number of each book the number of that book in its class. If the class-mark of religion, for example, is 20, the books successively placed in that class will bear the numbers 20.1, 20.2, 20.3, etc.