Program for Cooperative Cataloging - Library of Congress

Guidelines for using the LC Online Shelflist and formulating a literary author number

Cutter table

Below is a short Cutter table (taken from Subject Cataloging Manual : Shelflisting instruction sheet G 60) for use as a guide.

Note: the final Cutter number is based on entries already found in the shelflist (and in some cases entries reserved for other libraries for which LC does not have an item in its catalog).

The letters in the table represent the letter that follows the initial letter of the author's surname (vowel, consonat, etc.). The number is that which should be used; however, it may be necessary to add other numbers or to use judgement to allow for growth when providing numbers for extremely common names.

Generally Cutter numbers do not end with the numeral 1or 0.

1. After initial vowel

for the second letter:

use number:

l-m

s-t

u-y

2. After initial letter S

for the second letter:

use number:

h-i

m-p

w-z

3. After initial letters Qu

for the second letter:

use number:

For initial letters Qa-Qt, use 2-29

4. After other initial consonants

for the second letter:

use number:

5. For expansion

for the second letter:

use number:

a-d

e-h

i-l

m-o

p-s

t-v

w-z

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July 18, 2005