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To find items using their SuDoc, you must recognize the various parts
of the number. In general, all SuDocs are divided into two parts which
are separated by a colon.
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SuDoc Stems or Class Numbers
The first letter, or group of letters, in a SuDocs number indicates
the department or independent agency that created or issued the document.
The number before the period indicates the issuing bureau of that agency,
and the number following the period indicates the type of document. Periods
(.) are never decimal points in a SuDoc number. They are used as separators
along with slashes (/). So the I 29.6/4 from the example above is broken
down as follows:
| SuDoc part |
Meaning |
| I |
Interior Department |
| 29 |
National Park Service |
| 6 |
National Parks Information Circulars |
| 4 |
National Rivers, Information Circulars |
So the stem, or class number, for this example tells us that the item
is a national parks information circular, about a national river, from
the National Park Service, which is s part of the Interior Department.
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Book
Numbers
The book number can be based on the main word of the title, the series
number or issue number of the document. In the example above, B 86/986
the title of the document is Buffalo National River: Official map and
guide. Since it is an information circular about the Buffalo National
River, Buffalo is the main word in the title and a B is used to start
the book number. The numbers following the letter(s) help distinguish
this document from other circulars about the Buffalo River. In this case,
986 represents 1986, which is the year this guide was produced.
Some documents are journals, works in a series, or annual publications.
Often, these items will have book numbers that have no letters in them.
Instead the book number will use the three digit number to represent the
year of publication, or will use an issue and volume number system.
| SuDoc |
Stem or Book Number Meaning |
| I 29.1: 998 |
998 is used to represent the publication
year of 1998 |
| A 67.7/3:11/5 |
11/15 stands for volume #11, issue #5
of this journal |
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Shelving and Finding
Whole numbers - The documents are shelved alphabetically by
the first letters in the class number, then numerically. It is important
to remember that unlike the Library of Congress Call Number, which the
library uses for its main collection, all numbers are whole
numbers in a SuDocs call number. The following documents would
be shelved in this order:
| A 13.1:998 |
A 67.1:998 |
A 67.2:AM 2/3 |
A 67.2:AM 3 |
A 67.14:16 |
Exception - Even though all numbers
in a SuDoc Number are whole numbers, there is one instance where they
are not shelved in numeric order. Often, when new editions are created,
a slash and a three digit number are added to signify the print year.
In this instance, the new edition is shelved immediately after the previous
edition. The examples below are in order. The second is a newer (1995)
edition of the first, and the last SuDoc Number is for a different document
altogether.
| Y 3.T 22/2:2 IN 3 |
Y 3.T 22/2:2 IN 3/995 |
Y 3.T 22/2:2 IN 3/2 |
Letters and numbers - In SuDoc Classification Numbers, letters
come before numbers when everything else before
is the same. The following documents are in order.
| Y 4.EN 2/3:99-U |
Y 4.EN 2/3:99-11 |
Y 4.W 36:WMCP 99-00 |
Y 4.W 36:99-6 |
Y 4.3:T 22 |
Dashes and slashes - In SuDoc Classification Numbers, dashes
come before slashes when everything else before
is the same. The following documents are in order.
Nothing vs. something - Finally, in SuDoc Classification Numbers,
nothing come before something
when everything else before is the same. The following documents are in
order.
| HE 20.7002:T 70/4 |
HE 20.7002/A:IM 99 |
Y 4.SCI 2:EU 7 |
Y 4.SCI 2: EU 7/2 |
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