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You've just entered the Law Library for the first (or the one hundredth) time.
You're looking for a reporter (or a journal, or a digest, or a casebook... )
and are not sure where it might be, or where to start looking.
This page will help you decide.
There are two location guides to help you find what you want in the law library:
- Location Guide by Subject/LC Number - This guide helps you locate materials
if you know the broad subject area or Library of Congress call number.
- Location Guide to Major Titles - This guide covers the major titles for
U.S. laws, case reports, digests and selected secondary material. It assists
in determining the exact location in the law library for these specific titles.
Well, what if you don't really understand what the Library of Congress (LC)
system is all about?
Most of the libraries at the University of Illinois U-C use the Dewey call number system;
you are probably familiar with these call numbers from their widespread use in public libraries.
A few UIUC libraries, however — e.g., Law and Music — use another system
for organizing materials, called the Library of Congress (LC) system.
The LC system originated in the Library of Congress, a private library for senators
and representatives in Washington, to organize materials on shelves. In recent decades,
as LC has made its records available electronically, more libraries have adopted LC for
both shelving and cataloging. Once an item is LC cataloged, you will need to understand
the number to retrieve the physical item you have selected.
Like Dewey, LC generally organizes materials by subject.
The LC number appears in three main parts, and may contain additional parts that
together provide a unique identifier for the item.
One or more parts may be omitted; this represents the judgment of the cataloger that the
remaining parts suffice to provide a unique identifier.
The three main parts are organized in this way:
- a letter or letters (KF 801 .C65)
- A single letter represents abroad, general subject: K = Law.
- Multiple letters mean a narrower subject within it: KF = US federal law.
- a number (KF 801 .C65)
- This middle part further defines the subject;
in the law subject area, it designates a type of material — here, general/comprehensive works.
- Read these numbers the way you would count: 30 precedes 300 which precedes 3000.
- one or more Cutter numbers (KF 801 .C65)
- Named after a cataloger, this number represents
the beginning letter of a person's (author, editor, etc.) last name
with a number that interpolates it between other names beginning with
the same letter — e.g.,
Calamari, John D. — .C26
Corbin, Arthur L. — .C65
- The above number may be preceded by a cutter
number that further divides the subject, or gives some information
about the form of the item — e.g., whether it is an outline, form book, or casebook.
- Read Cutter numbers the way you would read a
decimal: .3 precedes .300 which precedes .31.
The LC number may have additional parts:
- a date: (KF 801 .C65 1960) which distinguishes among different editions of the same work;
- a volume number (KF 801 .C65 v.3A 1960).
The main LC subject divisions appear at the Library of Congress. For a guide to the UIUC College of Law library, here is
a table that indicates this library's LC subject divisons
and their specific locations.
For more detailed help understanding or locating an LC call number,
please consult a librarian.
Compiled by Linda Defendeifer. Call numbers taken from an outline prepared
by D. Hill. For more information on LC classification see Chan, Lois Mai.
Immroth's Guide to the Library of Congress Classification. 4th ed.
Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited. 1990.
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