21 Call, book and collection numbers: shelf arrangement
Dr M P Satija
1.2. Major Methods of Book Numbering
1.3. Major Systems of Book Numbers
2.Indian systems:
2.1. Dickinson Book Numbers
2.2.Bashiruddin Method
2.3. Ranganathan system
3.The National Library of India: 3.1.Brief History
3.1.1. National Library Act
3.2. Collection
3.2.1. Legal Depository
3.3. Its officially stated aims are:
3.4. Services
4.The Author Table of the NL
4.1. Need
4.2. Indian names -– Roman transliteration
4.3. Structure of tables
4.4.Structure of the Author Number
4.5. How to Use the Table?
4.6.Future Expansions
4.7. Complete Book Number
4.8.Translations
4.9. Biographies
4.10. Commentaries
4.11. Arrangement of Author Numbers: Ordinal Value of Digits
5.Glossary
6.References
7.Test questions
1.Role of Book Numbers
A book number has a very decisive role in shelf classification. It takes shelf arrangement of documents to a point where classification per se cannot. A train or bus cannot take you to the place of your visit.After the train you have to take some local conveyance to reach your destination. Similarly, class number alone is not able to uniquely indvdiualise a document on the library shelves. A book number determines the unique relative place of a document in the library store. If these books within the same class are not finely and discretely arranged then the purpose of classification is defeated. We will have pockets of chaos on the shelves. We need a devise to sub-arrange these documents to a logical end. Broader classes may rather require more fine book numbers. This devise of sub-arranging documents having the same specific class number is called book number. A book number may be based on either one or all of the characteristics of a document such as author, title, year of publication, language, form, volume and edition. The function of a book number starts from where that of the class number ends. Book numbers are satellites of class number, so have no independent value.
1.1.Current Status
Though quite indispensable for shelf-listing and book shelving, book numbers have been meted out a step-motherly treatment in the larger house of knowledge organisation. The golden age of book numbers happened in the last twenty years of the nineteenth century — the time of origin and development of the modern library classification. Early 20th century witnessed the emergence of some new systems of book numbers such as by the English Librarian James Duff Brown(1862-1914), S. R. Ranganathan(1892-1972) and the American librarian Fremont A. Rider(1885-1962). None of these later systems is popular.
1.2.Major Methods of Book Numbering
The two major rival systems of book numbers are:
(a) Alphabetical arrangement by author or title
(b) Chronological arrangement by year of publication or in the order of accession in the library.
An alphabetical author marks system perfected by C A Cutter was first published in 1892. Later it was expanded to Cutter-Sanborn three-figure author table, and again modified into three-figure table by Cutter himself. Of all the versions Cutter-Sanborn is the most popular. Library of Congress Classification (1901+) haspopularised this system in its most simplified form as part of its class number. W. S. Biscoe(1853-1933), a close colleague and friend of Melvil Dewey, with whose support, he designed a chronological table to sub-arrange books by their year of publications. S R Ranganathan took this art to its last perfection in designing a complex chronological book number in his Colon Classification in 1933. In practice there are numerous local variations and adaptations of these methods suiting local needs.
1.3.Major Systems of Book Numbers
Following is a list of major book numbering system of the world
1. Biscoe Time Numbers (1885).
2. Cutter-Sanborn Three-Figure Author Table (1896).
3. Cutter’s Three-Figure Alphabetic Order Table (1901).
4. Brown Biographical Numbers (1906).
5. Brown Date Table (1906).
6. (W. S.) Merrill Book Numbers (1912).
7. Dickinson Author Numbers (1916).
8. Ranaganathan’s Colon Book Numbers (1933).
9. Bertha R. Barden’s Special Schemes (1937).
10. Rider’s Book Numbers (1961)
2. Indian systems:
There are various systems of book numbers designed in India. A few in English language are described here briefly
2.1. Dickinson Book Numbers
The DDC was introduced in India by an American librarian, and a student of Melvil Dewey,Asa Don Dickinson (1876-1960) who was appointed librarian of the Punjab University, Lahore in 1915. His work inaugurated an era of modern librarianship and classification in India. He devised a special author table to suit Indian names which he included in his famous book Punjab Library Primer (1916).The table is contained in chapter vii “Author or book numbers”(pp.52-83).It was a sort of special Cutter table, though it still contained European names mostly. This small table,which gave brief author numbers, was simple to use. Dickinson claimed “table was prepared in the Punjab University Library, and has been found fairly satisfactory”(p.53) In this table every name was denoted by an alphabet followed by one numeral (in case of I, U,X, Y and Z) and two in other cases:
| Irwin | I7 |
| Quinn | Q7 |
| Ulrich | U2 |
| Zutschi | Z9 |
| Abraham | A15 |
| Norman | N74 |
On pages 82-84it gives instructions for complete book numbers which is rehash of cutter method in simplified form.
2.2.Bashiruddin Method
Padmashri Professor S. Bashiruddin (1902-1984) designed in 1928 various author tables for books in Sanskrit, Hindi Urdu, Arabic, Persian and even English for the Aligarh Muslim University library. In each language table he assigneda value of two digit numerals to each alphabet, e.g., 11 to A, and 36 to Z to construct the author number, e.g.,
| Akbar | A21 | (K is 21) |
| Shakespeare | S18 (H is 18) | |
| Sharma | S18 | ” |
Nothing could have been easier or more simple. Perhaps pure alphabetical author numbers of one or more alphabets would work better.
2.3. Ranganathan system
S R Ranganathan(1892-1972) designed a complex-looking but complete system of book numbers as compared to author table. This chronological system based centrally on the year of publication includes almost every bibliographic feature and oddity such as language, form, volume, copy and sequel documents. It is effectively able to individualize the documents in a given class. Its main advantage is that it is applicable to documents in any language. Though designed as complement to his Colon class numbers, it can be used with minor modifications with any other classification system. In addition there are numerous local mechanisations in use especially for vernacular books.
3. The National Library of India:
The National Library (NL) of India at Kolkata (earlier capital of India) completed 100 years of its establishment on 30 January 2003. Now it is an autonomous institution of national importance under the Ministry of Cultureby a1976 act of the Parliament. Managed by a Board and Executive Council under the Department of Culture, Government of India, Director (usually an eminent scholar) is the executive head. The (National) Librarian supported by a large contingent of professional, technical and ministerial staff works under the Director General. The present incumbent since November 2013 is Dr. P Y Rajendra Kumar
3.1.Brief History
The origin of NL Calcutta goes back to Public Library(CPL) established in 1836 as a proprietary library. But it allowed poor students and others to use the library free of charge for a specified period of time. It had a unique position as the first public library of the country. Such a tidy and efficiently run library was rare even in Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century. In the report of 1850 it is stated that the library had started collecting books in Gujarati, Marathi, Pali, Sinhalese and Punjabi. Thanks to its collection the National Library nowhas many rare books and journals in its collection. The CPL was merged with the Imperial Secretariat Library (serving the Government Departments since 1891) in 1903 on the initiative of the Lord Curzon (of Kedleston) (1859-1925), then the Governor General of India(1898-1905). The new library, called Imperial Library, was formally opened to the public on 30 January 1903 at Metcalf Hall, Kolkata. The policy of acquisition broadly adhered to by the Imperial Library was outlined by Lord Curzon in his inaugural speech: ‘The general idea of the whole Library is that it should contain all the books that have been written about India in popular tongues, with such additions as are required to make it a good all-round library of standard works of reference.’ The aims and objectives of the Imperial Library were well defined in a Notification in the Gazette of India: ‘It is intended that it should be a library of reference, a working place for students and a repository of material for the future historians of India, in which, so far as possible, every work written about India, at any time, can be seen and read.’ John Macfarlane, Assistant Librarian of the British Museum, London, was appointed the first Librarian of the Imperial Library. After his deathin 1906, the polyglot scholar HariNath De succeeded him from 1907to 1911who inturnwas succeeded by . J. A. Chapman succeeded him in 1911. During Chapman’s term till his retirement in 1930, the library experienced remarkable growth and improvement. After himKhan Bahadur M.A. Asadullah (1890-1949) was appointed librarian and he continued in office till July 1947 when he opted to migrate to Pakistan.
3.1.1. National Library Act
After Independence it was renamed and designated National Library of India under the Imperial Library (change of name) Act of 1948.In the same year it was shifted to the present building in 30 acre campus at Belvedere which earlier was the Viceral Lodge. The old building which is four kilometers away from the main building now serves as a newspaper reading room. The NL was formally thrown open to the public on 1st February 1953 by Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad(1888-1958), the first Education Minister of free India. B. S. Kesavan (1909-2001) was appointed the first Librarian of the National Library(1948-1963,1970-1971).
3.2. Collection
This largest library of India has a very valuable and rare collectionsof about 3 million documents of every sort in English, Arabic, Persian, a few European and almost all Indian languages. It also houses collections of many scholars and has separate subject and linguistic divisions including one on Indology.
3.2.1. Legal Depository
It legally receives free of change a copy of each book (and first issue of aperiodical publication) published anywhere in the country under the Delivery Books and Newspaper Act (Public Library) (D.B. Act,1954))Every year it adds about 20 thousand more publications in every form. It serves as a permanent repository of all reading and information material published in India, or written by an Indian living anywhere in the world or on India published anywhere in any language.The National Library receives and houses books and periodicals in English and t all Indian languages. The library has separate Indian language divisions for Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit,Sindhi,Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Sanskrit language division also collects and processes Pali and Prakrit books. English books published in India are collected under D.B. Act. Language divisions acquire, process and provide reading materials in all major Indian languages. Language divisions are also responsible for answering reference queries.
3.3. Its officially stated aims are:
1. Acquisition and conservation of all significant national production of printed material, excluding ephemera.
2. Collection of published material concerning the country, no matter where it is published, and as a corollary, the acquisition of photographic records of such material that is not available with in the country
3. Acquisition and conservation of foreign material required by the country.
4. Rendering of bibliographical and documents services of current and retrospective material, both general and specialised.
5. Acting as a referral centre purveying full and accurate knowledge.
3.4.Services
The Library remains open to its 50,000 bonafide members and other citizens for borrowing, reading and consulting books and other documentary heritage. The NL provides wide variety of services to the common public.It is unusual for a public library to lend books for home reading. (But it is considered a vestige of its public library past). It also has a children section. Apart from many of its published catalogues and other scholarly publications, since 1958 it has the responsibility of brining out (now almost defunct) the Indian National Bibliography (INB). For organizing its contents it uses the DDC and the shelf arrangement is by Cutter’s three figure author table. For Indian names in all the vernacular books it uses its home-made author table described here.
4. The Author Table of the NL
4.1. Need
Knowledge organization tools such as classification systems, subject heading lists have inborn bias towards the country and time of their origin. Author tables by Cutter are no exception. Not only Cutter tables are for Christian and Western names, they are also only in Roman script. Therefore these are r Author tables are not suitable for Indian names as “Cutter constructed his table with Anglo-Saxon surnames as the basis”. “When this table is used for Indian names ,it very often necessitates expansion of the three figure number to six or seven digits, which obviously becomes unwieldy” Therefore, the National Library at Kolkata designed and issued in 1961 its author table for Indian authors writing in vernacular languages(India, 1961).In the Indian table for the name ,e.g., the surname Mukhopadhyaya has 21 author numbers Mu719-Mu833 for various forenames under it whereas the cutter table has only one M896.Similarly Marathi surname Josi has 12 places J863-J945 for its various forenames while Cutter dumps them all under J781. Indeed this table minutely individualizes Indian names.
In designmethodology it is based on Cutter’s Three Figure Author Table (1902).
4.2. Indian names -– Roman transliteration
This table provides distinct author numbers for every author having the same surname but different forenames. Used only for works of authors in Indian languages, the table is based on literary warrant as the real Indian names from different linguistic, cultural and regional groups have been culled from various bibliographies and catalogues. The names have been transliterated into Roman script by the Hunterian systems, which now seems no more in vogue. Mercifully diacritical marks have not been used in the Hunterian transcription. But a great advantage is that the variousexisting formsof Indian names have been standardized. For example, see the following names:
| Modern Name | Hunterian transcriptions |
| Krishna
|
Krsn |
| Nehru
|
Nehravu
|
| Sharma
|
Sarma
|
| Das Gupta
|
Dasa Gupta |
| Chattopadhyay
|
Cattopadhyaya
|
| Bannerjee
|
Vandopadhyay
|
| Bose
|
Vasu
|
Sanskritised forms of names have been used though diacritical marks have been avoided. South Indian and Indian Muslim names are entered under their personal names:
RAMANATHAB,K
SUBBARAV,B
VIRARAJU,K
VISWANATHAN,L
ABDUL GAHAFFAR
MUHUMMAD MASUD SIDDQUI
Some Western Christian names have also been included:
WALKER
WATERMAN
WILSON
4.3. Structure of tables
All names have been printed in Roman capitals and arrangedin alphabetical order:
DASA, DE 324
DASAADHIKARI 441
DASADE,N 444
Multiword(compounded) names such as Raman Nayar, DasaAdhikari, MadhvaPanikkar have been treated as a single word and listed accordingly. It means DasaAdhikari will follow Dasa, Y. In the schedule above names are written as one word without space, i.e.
Dasaadhikari
Madhuapenikker
Ramannayar
Each letter has 729 names except E, F, H, I, L, O, Q, U, W, X, Y and Z as these letters do not have enough Indian names to begin with. These are:
All other alphabets have numbers 111 to 999.On the other hand for the large number of Indian names that begin with letters, A, B, D, G, K, M, P, R and V two schedules of numbers are provided. In case of S there are three such schedules. Table of such schedules is given below :
| Letter | 1st Schedule | 2nd Schedule | Pages |
| A | A-Ak | Al-Az | 1-9; 10-18 |
| B | B-Bg | Bh-Bz | 19-27; 28-36 |
| D | D-Dg | Dh-Dz | 46-54; 55-63 |
| G | G-Gh | Gi-Gz | 105-113; 114-122 |
| K | K-Kg | Kh-Kz | 129-137; 138-146 |
| M | M-Md | Me-Mz | 157-165; 166-174 |
| P | P-Pd | Pe-Pz | 176-184; 185-193 |
| R | R-Ram | Ran-Rz | 194-202; 203-211 |
| S | S-Sar | Sas-Sj Sk-Sz | 212-220 |
| V | V-Vd | Ve-Vz | 234-242; 243-251 |
In each of these schedules names are distributed over the numbers 111 to 999. The second or third schedule means names are again distributed over 111 to 999. This provides expansive space. Therefore, many numbers are lying vacant throughout the table.
4.4.Structure of the Author Number
In the tri-columned table author numbers obtained are not uniform in structure. Ordinarily an author number is to consist of an initial alphabet of the author’s name followed by three Indo-Arabic decimal numerals, e.g.,
| Bhargava | B341 |
| Iqbal | I512 |
| Yusuf Husain | Y289 |
But in case of E, F, I, Q, W, X and Z there are not many names. So each alphabet here is followed by two numerals only. For example,
Ekant E36
Fakhruddin F48
Wadia W12
Zarina Z56
In case of alphabets having two or more schedules the first two letters of the name are to be used preceding three decimal numerals for the second schedule. For example :
| Abbas Ali | A113 | (1st Schedule) |
| Alag | Al113 | (2nd Schedule) |
| BanarasiLal | B561 | (1st Schedule) |
| Bhau | Bh561 | (2nd Schedule) |
In case of S there are three such schedules though in both the second and third schedules the first two initial letters are used :
| Sabar | S121 | 1st Schedule |
| Sastri | Sa121 | 2nd Schedule |
| Sobha | So121 | 3rd Schedule |
In the operational manual(p.vi-vii ) it has been explained as to which names will begin with two initial letters. But this has not been reminded in the schedules.
It is likely that a classifier may use only one initial letter for the names in second and third schedules without any on the spot reminder. However, for the names falling between the following alphabetical order, the two letters of the alphabets are used :
Al-Az, Bh-Bz, Dh-Dz, Gi-Gz, Kh-Kz, Me-Mz, Pe-Pz, Ran-Rz, Sas-Saz and Ve-Vz. For example,
Dilbag Di536
Phukan Ph234
Venkataraman Ve289
4.5. How to Use the Table?
The names are given in letter-by-letter alphabetical order. To assign an author number to a name, look for that name in the schedules. If the name is found exactly then using the prescribed one or two initial alphabet(s) put the numerals against that:
| Ekant | E36 |
| Bhagat Singh | Bh148 |
| NurulHasan | N984 |
But it is unlikely that every author’s exact name is found in the schedules. No claim has been made, nor can be made for exhaustively listing all the Indian names. Obviously and inevitably post-1960 authors are missing— these are many and growing every day. If the exact name is not found which is more likely, then the earlier upper number in the schedules is used. This is just in accordance with the Cutter method. In such cases locate the two consecutive numbers between which the given name falls. Then use the upper name having lower number for the name. For example, the name Fazalelahi falls between
| Fazald | 79 |
| Fe | 81 |
Our author number for Fazalelahi will be F79 Similarly, for Shakespeare it will be Sh618 as this name falls between
Shaikh S618
Shakil S619
4.6.Future Expansions
As already stated no such table can be exhaustive of all the names. Apart from giving the upper number to a name not found in the schedules, all numbers can be expanded decimally beyond three digits in case of justified literary warrant. For example
| Modi, M | 429 |
| Modi, R | 431 |
For NarenderModi, i.e. Modi, N we can decimally expand 429 to 4292, or to anything between 4291-4299. Hence for Modi, N we have Mo4292
Similarly between
| Kaula, P | 778 |
| Kaula, P R | 779 |
Kaula, P N can be given the author number K7782 As another classic provision, there are frequent biggaps here and there for future expansions, e.g.
LAKSMIRATAN, B 416
417
418
419
LAKSMIS 421
But as it happens the gaps are not where the schedule is already crammed.
4.7. Complete Book Number
Strictly speaking, an author number is only a part of the book number. This Table provides guidelines for using the author number in making a book number by adding initial word of the title(work number), after the author number :
| Shakespeare’s Hamlet | Sh 618H |
| Tulasidas’ Ramayna T933R |
Here H and T are work numbers.
Not only this, it provides guidelines for keeping together the various translations of a publication, keeping together the various commentaries of a classic; and also the various biographies of a person.
4.8. Translations
For a translated work the name of the original writer is used for the author number, while initial of the translator’s name is used after the title, e.g.,
Shakespeare’s Hamlet translated by HarivanshRaiBachan
Sh618 HB
Hamlet, translation by NanajiDeshmukh
Sh618HD
It thus keeps together all the translations of a given work.
4.9. Biographies
It keeps together all the biographies of a luminary written by different authors. Biographee’s name is used to construct the author number. Initial of the author’s name is used after the author number :
| Biography of J L Nehru by B R Nanda | N762N |
| Biography of J L Nehru by M J Akbar | N762A |
4.10. Commentaries
Critical commentaries of a book can be kept together by letter Z put after the initial of the title of the book. Initial letter of the title may be followed by the initial letter of the commentator’s name
TulsiDas’Ramayana T933R
A commentary on TulsiDas’ Ramayana T933RZ
Z may be further individualized by the name of the critic or commentator, e.g.,
M R Anands’ commentary on Tulsidas’ Ramanyana: T933RZA
Rajagopalachari’s commentary on Tulsidas’ Ramayana T933RZR
In this way all the commentaries on Tulsidas’ Ramayana will come together and get arrenged alphabetically by the commentator.
4.11. Arrangement of Author Numbers: Ordinal Value of Digits
Since some names use two initial letters, and some use only one, therefore, to keep them in the desired order, an alphabet has been given higher ordinal value than a numerical digit. For example:
Saligram S391
Satapathi Sa155
Sohan Singh So135
These names will be arranged in the above order. Similarly, if a number is expanded beyond three digits it will file before the work number, e.g., the following two author numbers.
K7782
K778L
will file in the above sequence as 2 has less ordinal value than L.
This national table needs immediate updating to include new names.
5. Glossary
Author number vs Book number: Quite often the author number alone is able to individualize a book within the same specific class. In that case, it is a book number. But more often than not, it fails to do so. It may further require specification by addition of work number (title) or author’s initial in case of biographies. So in such cases, the author number is a part of the book number. Also it may be borne in mind that author number is not always derived from author’s name. In case of biographies, it is derived from the subject i.e. name of the biographee. Similar is the case with critical works ofliterature.
Book number = Author number + Work number
Delivery of Books Act: The Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act, 1954 (Amended 1956) mandates every publisher in India to deliver free of charge a copy of publication within 30 days of the release. The National Library at Kolkata and three public libraries in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi are the legal depositaries of books under the Act.
Hunterian Transliteration System: A system of transliteration devised by Sir William Wilson Hunter (1840-1900), ICS, a great Indologist and linguist for transliteration of Indian vernacular names in Roman script for his voluminous work on India, especially A guide to orthography of the Indian proper names with a list showing the true spellings of all post towns and villages in India (1871).
Imperial Library: A bunch of departmental libraries established in 1891 serving the Government department and restrictively the officers of the British Government were merged with the Calcutta Public Library (1836) in 1903 to form a library named Imperial Library. Aim of this de facto national/secretariat library of British India at Kolkata was to collect and house all publications of India and all publications about India and other standard works. It was designatedas the National Library of India by an act of parliament in 1948. In the same year, it was shifted to its present spacious campus at Belvedere which was earlier the residence of the Viceroy of India. On 1st February, 1953, it was thrown open to the public by MaulanaAbulKalam Azad, then the Education Minister of India.
National Library: An apex library of any country legally empowered as depository to receive free of charge a copy of each publication published within the country from the publisher. It is also charged with the responsibility to collect all publications on the country published anywhere in the world, and publications of its citizens living anywhere. It is also charged with the responsibility to bring out at regular interval the national bibliography.
6. References
- Barden, Bartha R. 1937. Book Number: A Manual for Students with a Basic Code of Rules. Chicago: ALA, 31p.
- Buckland, C.E. 1972.Dictionary of Indian Biography.Varanasi:Indological Book House, (reprint), pp. 211-12.
- Dickinson, Asa Don (1916, reprinted1990) The Punjab Library Primer.Lahore: AsiaBook Centre, iii, 200p.
- India, National Library. 1961. Author Table for Indian Names.Kolkata: The Library, viii, 255p.
- Satija, M.P. 1990. “Book Number and Call Number”, In Encyclopedia of Library and Information
- Science ed by Allen Kent, et al. New York: Marcel Dekker, Vol. 45, Supplement 10, pp. 27-29.
- Satija, M .P. and Comaromi, J. P. 1992.Beyond Classification: Book Numbers. New Delhi: EssEss, , pp.1-36.
- Vashisht, C. P. 1999. “50 years landmarks in library development in India”, Jl. Lib and Inf.Sci 24(1), June: 1-16.
- www.nlindia.org.
- www.nationallibrary.gov.in
- Sir William Wilson Hunter, ICS, LLD (Glasgow and Cambridge) (1840-1900) is one of the well knownIndologist of the 19th Century. He is known as the author of the Imperial Gazetteer of India 14 vols. (1885-87), and a history of the British India. He remained Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University(1886) and Vice President of Royal Asiatic Society. With his writing in lucid style he was a well read writer on Indian matters in England. He is known for representing India in right perspective to the West. He adopted a system of transliteration of vernacular names and words which became famous by his name.
Learn More:
Module LIS/KOP – C/13(3): Call, Book and Collection Number: National Library of India
- Do you know
- Book numbers were born with the modern library classification systems since 1876. Earlier these were not required.
- There are ten major book numbering systems for English names, includes the two chronological systems which can be used irrespective of the language of the book.
- Points to remember
- American librarian Asa Don Dickinson (1876-1960) was the first to design a book numbering system for Indian names in English.
- National Library of India is in Kolkata which is the main depository of Indian publications under the Delivery of Books and Newspapers Act (Public Library) (D.B. Act, 1954).
- It receives free of charge from the publisher a copy of each book and (first issue of) of periodical published anywhere in India.
- It is the largest library in India having collection of more than 30 lac books and other reading material, and adds more than 20 thousand items of such material every year in every language of India.
- It designed its own book numbers table for Indian names on the pattern of Cutter tables.
- It transliterates by Hunterian system the Indian vernacular names in any language into Roman script to construct book numbers for books received in the National Library.