[Classweb-users] Library users looking up name of LC codes

[Alan Exelby (LIB)]

Some alternatives *may* exist, at least for the second questiuon " how could a library user determine the name of the section the book is in". The Ex Libris product Primo includes an 'enrichment' option that is supposed to be able to expand a classmark into descriptive text during Normalisation. We do not use this, and I have not seen an example of this in use, so I cannot really comment on it; but if one provider can do this, perhaps others can as well.

Of course, this always runs into the fatal flaw of readers going to a specific section of the Library - not everything is classified in the same place (a book on two related topics may be classified under topic 1, and any reader going to 'the section' for topic two will not find it).

Alan

============================== 
Mr A.V. Exelby, 
Systems/Databases Librarian. 
The Library, 
University of East Anglia,
Norwich Reseach Park,
Norwich, NR4 7TJ 
Tel.: 01603 592432 
E-mail: a.exelby at uea.ac.uk 
Information Services 
================================ 
"Man, who'd have thought being a librarian could be so tough" 
Seamus Harper, in 'Harper 2.0', "Andromeda". 

>-----Original Message-----
>From: classweb-users-bounces at classificationweb.net [mailto:classweb-
>users-bounces at classificationweb.net] On Behalf Of Pietris, Mary Kay
>Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 11:53 AM
>To: 'Mark Weiler'; classweb-users at classificationweb.net
>Subject: Re: [Classweb-users] Library users looking up name of LC codes
>
>Since the LC classification system is available in paper and through
>Classification Web, these seem to me to be the only way to search to for the
>meaning of a number.  However, a user could always look at the bibliographic
>record for the book and inspect the subject headings, the first of which should
>bear some relation to the class number.
>
>In addition to the schedules themselves, the Library publishes three paper
>products which lay out the classification schedules in more or less detail.
>There are:
>
>LC Classification Outline  (the most detailed)
>LC Classification Poster	(class letters only)
>LC Classification Quick Reference Guide  (class letters only)
>
>These are available for purchase in bulk, and provide a handy way to see what
>the class letters mean.
>
>See the CDS website for information, specifically
>http://www.loc.gov/cds/products/lcClass.php
>
>Mary K. D. Pietris
>Library of Congress
>Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate
>Policy and Standards Division
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: classweb-users-bounces at classificationweb.net [mailto:classweb-
>users-bounces at classificationweb.net] On Behalf Of Mark Weiler
>Sent: Friday, February 22, 2013 9:59 PM
>To: classweb-users at classificationweb.net
>Subject: [Classweb-users] Library users looking up name of LC codes
>
>While working a reference desk a student asked me if we had a "Sympathy"
>section in our library. The only way I could show the student how to do this on
>the OPAC was to trace a candidate book to find it's call number.
>
>This prompted to me think: Is there any way a library user could search the LC
>classification system to find out what sections are about a particular topic?
>Classification Web can do this, but library users don't have access to
>it.  Related to this, given a book's call number, how could a library user
>determine the name of the section the book is in?
>
>mark
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