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Introduction | Author Numbers (First Cutters) | Author Numbers for Canadian Literature | Applying the Second Cutter | Other Notes | Literature Classification : Quick Guide | World Literature Classes | Table of Contents (Subject Analysis) | Table of Contents (Top)]
Literature classification in LC has a number of peculiar features, which we complicate at Queen's by putting Canadian literature in non-LC call numbers.
This document is a general discussion of literature classification, including explanations and treatment of exceptions.
For a short guide to procedures, see Literature Classification : Quick Guide.
For a list of major literature classes, see World Literature Classes.
Literary works are classed so that all the works of one author are kept together. Literary authors are arranged:
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Every literary author is assigned an author number (or numbers), which is used for all literary works by that person, or works about the person or the works. Every literary author should have an authority record with an 053 field that gives his/her author no. This is usually a basic number followed by the first cutter. If there is no 053 on the authority record for the author you have, send the item to a literature cataloguer.
Author numbers for well-known authors, and even obscure pre-20th century authors, may be listed in the printed schedules or in Classification Web. In ClassWeb, you can click on Classification Search and enter the author's name, or, if you wish, look in one of the Browsers for the heading Individual Authors under the appropriate literature class, country and period (which may produce a very long list!).
Once you find the author's number or range of numbers, you are usually referred to a Table for a further breakdown. If you are using the printed schedules, there is often a note at the top of the list directing you to the default Table , which is found in another volume: Subclasses P-PZ Language and Literature Tables. ClassWeb links to the Table from every author's name. For authors with a cutter number, the Table is usually the one called Table XL (print) or P-PZ40, but for an exception see Beattie, James, in PR3316.B4. The breakdown for major pre-20th century authors is often laid out in ClassWeb without using a table, but authors of medium importance may have tables with whole numbers or several numbers.
For 20th or 21st century authors (i.e. when the list of authors was unknown at the time the schedule was created), the alphabetical sequence most often has each letter of the alphabet assigned to one class number, so that the first cutter begins with the second letter of the author's name. Other times, there is a decimal number followed by the first letter of the author's name. Table XL or 40 is used for all these authors.
See Applying the Second Cutter for the next step.
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Note: Because of the special rules for Canadian literature, it is done only by librarians and senior cataloguing assistants who have been trained in these procedures.
See Author Numbers (First Cutters) for general rules applying to all literatures. This section is concerned with practices followed by Queen's University Libraries for classification of English- and French-Canadian literature in particular. These literatures are very important here, especially in the Lorne Pierce Collection, and we want to have them arranged in a consistent manner. LC does not provide adequately for such large collections of Canadian literature.
LC puts works by English language authors in PR-PS, with Canadian authors in PR9180-9199, and US authors in PS3xxx. National Library of Canada (NLC) created a PS8xxx schedule for English Canadian authors. We use this, so LC or other copy with class no. PR9180-9199 is reclassed at Queen's into PS8xxx.
NLC or other Canadian library copy with PS8xxx cannot be accepted here either, except for 21st century authors. Until recently, we had no access to NLC's call number index, so we assigned our own numbers to English Canadian authors up to the end of the 20th century (actually 2004). We continue to use those numbers of ours and as new authors are received, we assign them a number which keeps them in our alphabetical sequence of authors. If the number NLC gave an author fit into our sequence, we did use it, but this rarely happened before 2004. We intend to try to use NLC's author numbers for the 2004- period, even if this means reclassifying when we happen to get a new author before they do.
Another note of caution: PR9200-PR9680 is used by the Library of Congress for English authors not living in Great Britain, Canada or U.S. But some Canadian libraries seem to be using some kind of scheme that puts English Canadian authors in PR9200-PR9399. Do not use these numbers for anyone connected to Canada.)
An LC authority record for an English-Canadian author may have an 053 in the range of PR9180-9199. If so, disregard the number. Follow only an 053 assigned at Queen's, which has "CaOKQ" in the 053 to indicate that it is the number used here. (If the 053 has "(CaOKQ)", please correct to "|5CaOKQ".) If the "CaOKQ" is not there, give the item to a literature cataloguer to assign our author number. Otherwise, our Canadian authors will not be in proper alphabetical sequence.
French language authors are classed in PQ by LC, with French-Canadian authors in PQ3900-3919. At Queen's, French-Canadian authors are classed in PS9xxx. Do not use PQ3900-3919. Also, do not use PS8xxx numbers assigned by NLC for French-Canadian authors. (NLC has chosen to put all Canadian authors in one sequence.) The 053 on the authority record for French language authors, other than Canadian, needs to agree with the number on the copy for your book. For French-Canadian authors, disregard the number on the copy and follow the 053 -- but, as with English-Canadian authors, only if the 053 has "CaOKQ" in it. Otherwise, give the item to a literature cataloguer
As with English-Canadian authors, we will try to follow NLC's author numbers for authors starting 2004- , but changing the PS8xxx to the corresponding PS9xxx.
Canadian literature in languages other than English and French is treated at Queen's according to LC. At the end of the classification for the literature of each language, LC has a section for literature outside the country or region, and this is broken down geographically. For example, PT3808-PT3971 is assigned to German literature outside of Germany. Within this, PT3900-PT3918 is for "General North America. United States", and Canadian literature written in German has to be fitted into that. Note that NLC classes this in PS8xxx, but we have chosen not to follow NLC.
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The section Author Numbers (First Cutters) explains the author number, which for all 20th-21st century authors and some others is the call number through the first cutter. This section deals with completing the call number for these "standard" authors. The examples are Canadian, but the same rules apply for any other literature.
Complete works of an author may use just the author's author number and date with no second cutter, or the second cutter may be in the range of A1-5 cuttered for editor, translation, etc. Use whatever is on your copy.
e.g. author number for Wilfred Campbell is: PS8455.A56
e.g. The poems of Wilfred Campbell, 1905, is classed as: PS8455.A56 A17 1905
Selected works of an author are cuttered A6. (If the title of the selection is a distinctive one, that title is preferred for the cuttering.) This means that titles starting with A must be cuttered between A64 and A99. (NLC seems to forget this frequently.)
William Wilfred Campbell, selected poetry / edited by Laurel Boon, 1987, is classed as: PS8455.A56 A6 1987
Individual works of an author are usually cuttered from A61-Z4 by title. We usually use a 2-digit cutter.
e.g.Beyond the hills of dream / by Wilfred Campbell, 1899, is classed as PS8455.A56 B44 1899
Autobiography and correspondence of a literary author are normally given a second cutter in the Z's which puts them between any titles which start with the letter Z and the critical works about the author.
e.g. author number for Margaret Laurence is: PS8573.A75
Dance in the earth : a memoir / Margaret Laurence, 1989, is classed as PS8573.A75 Z53 1989
Biography and criticism of the works of a literary author use the author's number plus a second cutter from Z55-99 depending on the main entry of the critical work. See LC's P Class Cutters for details.
Beware that a literary author may write a critical work about another author. In this case, the item is classed with the author who is the subject of the book, and not with the author who wrote it.
Criticism of a particular work of an author, uses the cutter for that particular work plus the number 3, plus number(s) to reflect the author (or main entry) of the critical work.
e.g. author number for Mordecai Richler is: PS8585. I34.
Mordecai Richler / by George Woodcock, 1970 is classed as: PS8535. I34 Z9 1970
The apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz / by Mordecai Richler, 1959 is classed as: PS8535. I34 A8 1959
Introducing Mordecai Richler's The apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz / by George Woodcock, 1990, is classed as: PS8535. I34 A839 1990
Translations are classed with the original work and usually 13, or 14, etc. is added to the title cutter according to the language of translation. If the title of the original cannot be found, then it has to be cuttered for the translated title and no suffix is needed.
Canadian Literature: The 1st and 2nd editions of the PS8000 classification included a Table of Subdivisions under Individual Authors which was different from LC's Table XL/40 in many details. This table was applied at Queen's, not always consistently. However, the 3rd edition (now free on the Web at Class PS8000: A Classification for Canadian Literature) has dropped that table and includes instead a table identical to LC's Table XL/40. The new table should always be used when there are no conflicting numbers.
With authors for whom we already have substantial collections, applying the new table may create conflicts. Use your judgment in varying the second cutter to fit the existing shelflist, or reclassing if required. It is not necessary or possible to make every number consistent with a new table.
If your copy has a number in the PQ3900-3919 or the PR9180-9199 range, or a PS8xxx or PS9xxx number assigned by another Canadian library, and the authority record has a PS8xxx or PS9xxx (CaOKQ) in the 053, normally you can substitute the author number in the CaOKQ 053 and use the same second cutter as on your copy. If the result conflicts with other numbers already in the catalogue, adapt the new number as necessary.
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LC uses class PZ for some fiction, including juvenile. We do not. If copy has a PZ call number, ignore it.
In the past Queen's assigned its own author numbers to many non-Canadian authors. We now do this only when no LC author number can be found. However, some of the old numbers are still on our shelves, and may be reclassed when a new work on or by an author is catalogued.
Some authors write in more than one language. At one time we classed all their works with what we considered their major language, but now we normally class them in as many different places as necessary to cover all their languages.
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Section 3, Literature
Written 2002 by H. Coffey
Revised and added to online manual April 20, 2004 by D. Rutherford
Page maintained by Elizabeth A. Read, readel@queensu.ca. Created: 04/20/2004 Updated 20-Apr-2004 02:37 PM