Library of Congress Classification System
We use the Library of Congress classification system to shelve books at Bowman Library. The system was developed in the late 19th century and is primarily used by academic libraries. Today, it is one of the most widely used classificaition systems. Upon first glance, it may look like a jumble of numbers and letters, but this combination of lettes and numbers is called a call number, and it will help you find the item in Bowman Library. The call number is highlighted below, as it appears in the library catalog:
The call number is printed on the spine label of each book:
But what do these letters and numbers mean? LC divides knowledge into 21 classes, with various subclasses. Let's take a closer look:
