Determining the Subject

After fiction and non-fiction items are separated and decisions are made concerning the treatment of non-book materials, the next step is to determine the subject matter of each of the items to be classified. This can easily be completed if the cataloging has been done in the same order as these library courses. The subject headings assigned in the previous course can be very helpful in starting the search for a notation in any classification system. For library materials with just one or two subject headings, looking those terms up in the DDC index may result in a very obvious choice for a notation. For materials that cover more aspects or variations of a subject, several terms may need to be looked up in the index, and several places consulted in the schedules before a notation is decided. Either way, the existing subject headings will give a good starting place for consulting DDC.

The final step in this process will be to consult the various sections of the DDC for the correct notation needed to classify the item being cataloged. This provides the first piece of information needed to create a complete call number, or address, for items being placed in the library collection.

Click the arrow below to continue to the next page