Shelf-Ready Implications for the Catalogue and Collection, including Policy
on Call Number Changes / Reclassification
Over the past several years, Collections and Technical Services has been stepping up
shelf-ready orders and plans are to continue in this direction.
There are many advantages to having items come shelf-ready, the primary one being that
it allows Technical Services to provide digital and physical access to a vastly larger
number of items than would be possible otherwise. Other advantages include
consolidation of practices between branch libraries, identification of legacy practices that
may have lost meaning in the current library environment, and the ability to facilitate
future directions.
However, the shelf-ready process also has some implications for the collection and the
catalogue that seem to mark a departure from how the shelf list and call numbers have
been viewed in the library community.
One implication is that all of the works of a particular author/artist/composer may not sit
together in perfect order on the shelf. This is due to the fact that, in the shelf-ready
process, the assignment of call numbers is done following the principles of cooperative
cataloguing, that is, using records available from other libraries and institutions, each of
which may have its own unique shelf list. Although this affects browsing to a certain
degree, it does not negate it as works by a specific author/artist/composer will continue to
sit in the same general area. The same applies to editions of a work.
Technical Services will make changes to call numbers falling into the above-elaborated
category only in cases where it is the actual classification (that is, not the Cutter, which is
the last alpha followed by numerics in the call number; eg., PG2834.5 .P74 1963, QH603
.M5 F42 1969) that is incorrect. In official terms, the classification is all subfield ‘a’
information in the 050, 055, or 060 tag of a record, which correspond to Library of
Congress classification, classification assigned in Canada, and National Library of
Medicine classification, respectively. Technical Services will also continue to strive to
keep multivolume sets together on the shelf.
Another implication is that identical call numbers for different publications can occur due
to the shelf-ready process. This is not new to the library, since the amalgamation of other
collections with the main collection has already produced repeated call numbers.
However, it can be expected that the number of identical call numbers will increase as
shelf-ready material continues to be received. A preliminary estimate shows that
approximately 0.3 % of the collection has duplicate call numbers.
Identical call numbers are really only an issue for items that will continue to be in the
stacks; that is, there will be no issue with material moved to the High-Density Library
(HDL). In sending items to Technical Services for differentiation of identical call
Aaron Wood
rev April 20, 2009
Associate Head, Technical Services
rev December 14, 2009
Metadata Librarian
University of Calgary
numbers, please remember that anything marked to go to the HDL (barcode will have a
red line underneath it and be on the back cover of the item) is not considered to duplicate
a call number since such material will not be identified by call number in the HDL; it is
the barcode that will be used for identification purposes. So, if you have two or more
items with identical call numbers that will continue to be in the stacks, Technical
Services will differentiate the call numbers upon request.
I hope this helps to alleviate, or at least clarify, concerns surrounding call numbers and
the shelf-ready process. If you have any further questions, please contact Technical
Services directly.
Aaron Wood
Associate Head, Technical Services
Metadata Librarian
University of Calgary
rev April 20, 2009
rev December 14, 2009