Guide to the Superintendent of Documents Classification System Most of the government documents in the Paul Meek Library collection are classed according to theSuperintendent of Documents classification system. In this classification scheme, the call numbers reflect government organization or hierarchy. The SuDoc Classification number is made up of different elements and parts. Each element--such as letter, number or punctuation--is an important part of the classification number. The initial letter or letters signify the department or agency that isued the document. Usually this number is taken from the name of the department or agency. A=Agriculture Department, ED= Education Department, D=Defense Department, etc. Exceptions to this are the Congressional documents which are designated as X or Y. Under the "nothing-before-something" rule, a one-letter agency is filed before a two (or more) letter agency. e.g.: all E's file before ED or EP. The first number designates the sub-agency (except "1" which is used for the whole agency). Next is a period ".". This most often divides the agency/sub-agency and the series that the document is a part of. However, on occasion, the number after the period designates a further sub-agency breakdown. C 55 C=Department of Commerce 55=National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. C 3 C=Department of Commerce 3= Bureau of Census C 3.3 C=Department of Commerce 3= Bureau of Census .3= Bulletin series D 103.20 D=Department of Defense 103=Corps of Engineers .20= Army Map Service The next major element is the colon ":". This separates the call number into two parts. The second part contains either: A further symbol is the slash "/" followed by a number. This is used if a number or Cutter number is being used again for a different title. EP 1.23: = U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Ecological Research Series. EP l.23/2: = U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental Protection Technology Series. S 1.2:C18/2 = U.S. Department of State. Foreign Service Careers S 1.2:C18/6 = U.S. Department of State. Civil Service Careers Different Editions are often distinguished by year of publication. Often only the last 3 digits of a year are used. 989 = 1989 TD 1.2: Sy6/974 TD l.2: Sy6/979 A VERY IMPORTANT note about the filing of SuDoc call numbers: Any number found after a period "." is read and filed as a whole number, NOT a decimal. The order would be: C 3.2, C 3.3, C 3.4, C 3.4/4, ...C 3.8, ...C 3.14...C 3.21... C 3.35, etc.
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