Sorry for the not so appealing title for this post, but
today while searching, I found my search on the shelf with some others where
the cutter of the call number was read wrong.
The search had the call number PN1040 .A513 1997 and was shelved just after
the PN1040 .A53 's. It then clicked in
my brain that a lot of patrons get confused on how to read the numbers of a
call number. Patrons’ confusion over
reading call numbers is important because that is how we discover where they
are miss-shelved.
Take for example the above call number, PN1040 .A513 1997 should
be read where .A513 should be viewed as if you were reading a decimal. In decimal reading, .513 is smaller than .53
and not larger. Sometimes patrons don’t
read it this way and see the .513 as 513 (five hundred thirteen), which is more
than 53 (fifty-three) if you exclude the decimal point. In addition, sometimes patrons think in the
opposite direction when it comes to decimals as well where they stick a .513
before a .5. Just because a decimal may
have more numbers, does not mean it should go before a decimal with less
numbers.
Also sometimes, though rarer than the decimals, patrons read
that PN1040 as being next to a PN104.
1040 is not one hundred forty, but one thousand forty as we would really
read a 4 digit whole number this way without a decimal. To continue on with numbers with decimals
after the letters corresponding to the subject, 1040.56 is obviously more than
1040.5 (add a zero to the 5 and it becomes .50 which is less than .56 since
zero is smaller than 6), but patrons also forget about that as well.
Therefore, we can use how patrons understand decimals and
the other numbers in the LC call number system to our aid when searching for
books by thinking the way they are misreading the numbers.
Hopefully in this explanation I have not confused you all
and my attempt has not been in vain.
Happy Searching! J
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