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Art and Visual Rhetoric

A LibGuide originally designed for students enrolled in ART 382 01W.

What are LC Class Numbers and Subjects?

Items in the catalog are assigned Subject Headings in the catalog.  Subject Headings are meant to capture the most essential themes and content of the material (books, recordings, eResources, etc.).  When you search by subjects, you are able to find a smaller collection of items that share the same essential subject matter.  In catalog records, subjects are hyperlinked so that you can click on related subjects to browse related groups of items. You can also combine subjects in searches to get narrower results.

 

At Butler University, all of the libraries use the Library of Congress (LC) Classification System.  For those accustomed to the Dewey Decimal System, the LC System may look strange because it combines letters and numbers. Every LC call number begins with a letter or letters which designate the general subject of the material and knowing helpful classification numbers will help you browse the catalog and the stacks for related material.

 

A chart with a sample library of congress call number and explanations of how to interpret each part if you are browsing books in the stacks. Call numbers in the Library of Congress system are organized from general classification to more specific identifying information in each part. The sample call number is "PS3527 .E917 G7 1925 V.3." The first part, "PS3527," is the classification number. You read the letters in alphabetical order, so A comes before B, and P comes before PA, comes before PB. PS would come between PR and PT. The number is read in ascending numerical order. One comes before two, which comes before three. In this example, PS3527 would come between PS3526 and PS3528. The second part of the call number is the Cutter number. These have a decimal point at the beginning, followed by an initial letter then a number. Sometimes a call number can have two Cutter numbers, as our example does, ".E917" and "G7." In both cases you would interpret the number as decimal numbers, so ".E917" would come between ".E91" and ".E92" and "G7" would come between "G69" and "G71." The third part of the call number is the publication date. This is the year the book was published. Editions of the same book, published in different years, are arranged in chronological order. In our example, the book was published in 1925. The last part of the call number is the enumeration. If a book has multiple volumes, parts, or copies, those are arranged in numerical order. In our example, this is volume three, "V.3" which would be shelved between volumes 2 and 4.

General Library of Congress Class Numbers for Art

The Butler Libraries maintain a collection of art history resources to support classes offered in art history and appreciation.  Materials in this area are cataloged in the Library of Congress classification scheme (LC) under the alphabetical designation of "N."  The classification contains the following general subdivisions:

  • N = Visual Arts
  • NA = Architecture
  • NB = Sculpture
  • NC = Drawing
  • ND = Painting
  • NE = Print Media
  • NK = Decorative Arts
  • NX = Arts in General
  • TR = Photography 
  • TT = Handicrafts. Arts and crafts

Harm Mitigation in the Catalog

Items in the catalog are assigned Subject Headings in the catalog.  Subject Headings are meant to capture the most essential themes and content of the material (books, recordings, eResources, etc.).  The subject headings we use at Butler University are overseen by the Library of Congress, which is often slow to change, making some of the terms out of date.  

In an effort to make the Butler Libraries' catalog more inclusive we are working on a creating local subject headings to replace existing outdated and potentially harmful subject headings.  If you find a troubling subject term(s) in our catalog, please submit it through the below form with a suggestion(s) of an alternative term(s).  

Butler Libraries Subject Heading Request Form

When reading a catalog record, you can find Library of Congress Subject Headings after the ISBN:

CONTACT

Email Butler University Libraries
Irwin Library: 317-940-9227
Science Library: 317-940-9937

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