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223 views | 0 Vote this question as useful. 0 Vote this question as not useful. | Last updated on Apr 29, 2021 Call Number General Information
It's the number on the spine of the book that tells you the exact shelf location of a book in the physical library.
We keep books on the same or similar topics near to each other. The call number indicates the topic of the book and often also indicates the initial letter of the book title and/or the author's name. It also usually gives the year that the book was published. All that information is encoded into the parts of the call number to help you find information on a particular topic. It is another way to search for information on a topic. On the Find Book page, click the down arrow beside "Keyword" and you will see Call Number is the last search option. When you use the "Browse shelf" function (beside the call number) on the Koha Library Catalogue, you are using the power of the call number to bring books related to each other together. (See for yourself here)
At Champlain St-Lambert, the George Wallace Library uses the Library of Congress Classification system to file the books (with alphanumeric call numbers like SB123.57/G63/2019). Dewey Decimal Classification is used at the library in the St-Lawrence campus (with all numeric call numbers like 363.192/G328/2009).
To learn more about call numbers go to Unlocking Research. To see a simplified Library of Congress Classification Outline for the main topics and sub-topics in our collection at the George Wallace Library click here.
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