# ISO help from a librarian with access to a reasonably full LC class manual **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-help-from-a-librarian-with-access-to-a-reasonably-full-lc-class-manual/583668 "2011-05-29T15:52:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-help-from-a-librarian-with-access-to-a-reasonably-full-lc-class-manual/583668/1 "2011-05-29T15:52:41Z")
For a personal project I am trying to LC-classify an imaginary book about drunk librarians. What LC call number would you assign to such a book? ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-help-from-a-librarian-with-access-to-a-reasonably-full-lc-class-manual/583668/2 "2011-05-31T14:01:57Z")
Just giving this a one-time Monday morning bump in case there are any librarians at work today who would rather work on my request than their real jobs… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-help-from-a-librarian-with-access-to-a-reasonably-full-lc-class-manual/583668/3 "2011-05-31T14:32:33Z")
I don’t think you’ve given enough information. Is it a novel? Ethnography? How-to? Subject matter alone is not useful. Also, different libraries will assign different LC numbers to the same book. And even the LC itself occasionally gets it wrong—my favourite is an edition of a Medieval Welsh tale, classified as “Irish literature” because it was published in Dublin and that was probably the only word the cataloguer could read besides the date. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-help-from-a-librarian-with-access-to-a-reasonably-full-lc-class-manual/583668/4 "2011-05-31T16:03:10Z")
Let’s call it literary fiction. I’d march over to tech services and use their manuals but I don’t want them to get suspicious. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-help-from-a-librarian-with-access-to-a-reasonably-full-lc-class-manual/583668/5 "2011-05-31T16:20:23Z")
Not a librarian, but I agree that there really isn’t enough info. Is it a novel about drunk librarians? Is it a medical/psychological/psychiatric book (perhaps an expansion of a medical journal article) about how alcoholism has a disproportionate effect on librarians? Is it a self-help book about recovery from alcoholism that is designed to help you follow the real-life struggles of a recovering alcoholic (who just happens to have been a librarian) and apply the strategies they used and avoid the mistakes they made along the journey? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-help-from-a-librarian-with-access-to-a-reasonably-full-lc-class-manual/583668/6 "2011-05-31T16:29:18Z")
All right, let’s assume it’s a novel for children. PZ 7. Until you give the author’s surname and title, there’s no further way to class it. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-help-from-a-librarian-with-access-to-a-reasonably-full-lc-class-manual/583668/7 "2011-05-31T16:44:45Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > All right, let’s assume it’s a novel for children. PZ 7. Until you give the author’s surname and title, there’s no further way to class it. Wouldn’t it depend on the nationality of the author? American literature is PS, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-help-from-a-librarian-with-access-to-a-reasonably-full-lc-class-manual/583668/8 "2011-05-31T17:02:30Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Wouldn’t it depend on the nationality of the author? American literature is PS, for example. Children’s literature in English is PZ regardless of nationality, except when it’s not. That’s why it’s really helpful to have more information about the book! ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-help-from-a-librarian-with-access-to-a-reasonably-full-lc-class-manual/583668/9 "2011-05-31T17:29:51Z")
Thanks everyone. I have reconsidered the nature of the joke I am trying to convey with the call#. This is to put on a coffee mug for librarian colleagues I go out drinking with. I am now going with the social sciences, in HV. Probably HV5292 or HV5825 If you have a cutter table handy, could someone give me a cutter for Inter ? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-help-from-a-librarian-with-access-to-a-reasonably-full-lc-class-manual/583668/10 "2011-05-31T23:50:21Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Children’s literature in English is PZ regardless of nationality, except when it’s not. That’s why it’s really helpful to have more information about the book! Gotcha. Obviously, my system uses DDC. 😉