This document summarizes a webinar on cutter numbers given by Cheryl Boettcher Tarsala. It discusses the principles and types of cutter tables, including standalone tables and those used with the Library of Congress Classification system. Examples are provided of cuttering names from the Little House book series and assigning cutters to books on dogs classified in the LC system. The webinar outlines how cutter numbers provide a systematic way to alphabetically arrange materials on library shelves.

1. Building Cutter Numbers:
An Overview
Webinar
Cheryl Boettcher Tarsala, Ph.D.
September 12, 2014

2. Webinar Outline
1. Principles and Types of Cuttering
2. How to Use the Cutter-Sanborn Table
3. Varied Uses for Cuttering in LCC
4. Basic Use of the LC Cutter Table
Tarsala * Slide 2

3. Principles
• Alphanumeric codes
– Letter(s) A-Z + Numbers (1-999+/-)
• Numbers are decimals
• Reduces cognitive load for
shelving and filing Photo of Charles Ammi Cutter
source: Wikimedia Commons
Quote: LJ July 1887, p. 251
“This notation is
designed to keep
books on the
shelves alfabeted by
authors.”
Tarsala * Slide 3

4. Tarsala * Slide 4 Book covers from HarperCollins “Little House” series

5. Little House Authors
Cutter Full Last Name Title (Author)
WIL Farmer Boy (Wilder, Laura Ingalls)
WIL Farmer Boy Goes West (Williams, Heather)
WIL Little House in Brookfield (Wilkes, Maria D.)
WIL Little House in the Big Woods (Wilder, Laura
Ingalls)
WIL Little House in the Highlands (Wiley, Melissa)
WIL Little House on the Prairie (Wilder, Laura
Ingalls)
WIL Little Town on the Prairie (Wilder, Laura
Ingalls)
WIL Mary Ingalls on Her Own (Willard, Elizabeth
Kimmel)
Tarsala * Slide 5

6. Little House Authors
Full Last Name Title (Author)
WILDER WIL Farmer Boy (Wilder, Laura Ingalls)
WILDER WIL Little House in the Big Woods (Wilder, Laura Ingalls)
WILDER WIL Little House on the Prairie (Wilder, Laura Ingalls)
WILDER WIL Little Town on the Prairie (Wilder, Laura Ingalls)
WILEY WIL Little House in the Highlands (Wiley, Melissa)
WILKES WIL Little House in Brookfield (Wilkes, Maria D.)
WILLARD WIL Mary Ingalls on Her Own (Willard, Elizabeth Kimmel)
WILLIAMS WIL Farmer Boy Goes West (Williams, Heather)
Tarsala * Slide 6

7. Cuttered Little House Authors
Cuttered Title (Author)
W673f WILDER WIL Farmer Boy (Wilder, Laura Ingalls)
W673ℓhb WILDER WIL Little House in the Big Woods (Wilder, Laura Ingalls)
W673ℓhp WILDER WIL Little House on the Prairie (Wilder, Laura Ingalls)
W673ℓt WILDER WIL Little Town on the Prairie (Wilder, Laura Ingalls)
W676ℓ WILEY WIL Little House in the Highlands (Wiley, Melissa)
W682ℓ WILKES WIL Little House in Brookfield (Wilkes, Maria D.)
W692m WILLARD WIL Mary Ingalls on Her Own (Willard, Elizabeth Kimmel)
W723f WILLIAMS WIL Farmer Boy Goes West (Williams, Heather)
Tarsala * Slide 7

8. Types of Cuttering
• Standalone Cutter Tables
– Cutter two-figure
– Cutter three-figure
– Cutter-Sanborn
• Cutters for Library of Congress Classification
image source
openclipart.org
Tarsala * Slide 8 by Nina Geometrieva

9. Availability of Standalone Cutter Tables
• Complicated by copyright
– 1969 Swanson-Swift Revision
• Available from Hargrave House or used
– All three variants on 15-inch cardboard
• OCLC’s cuttering program
– OCLC Four-figure Cutter and Cutter-Sanborn
• Non-U.S. websites
– Only Cutter-Sanborn three-figure
Cover images
Left: Original Cutter-Sanborn table, ca. 1920-1940, dist. by H.R. Huntting Co.
Right: Swanson-Swift Revision (1969), printed Tarsala * Slide 9 1976, dist. by Hargrave House

10. Cuttering Steps
1. Scan the alphabetical list to identify where
the word you wish to cutter falls.
2. If it matches an entry exactly, choose that
number.
3. If it falls in between two entries, choose the
entry above where it should file.
4. Each cutter number represents all possible
names beginning with the exactly listed entry
and ending just before the next listed entry.
5. Place a capital letter representing the first
letter of the word before the number.
Tarsala * Slide 10

11. How to Use the
Cutter-Sanborn Table
Images of Cutter-Sanborn Three-Figure
Author Table (Swanson-Swift Revision), p. 23.
Tarsala * Slide 11

12. Cutter-Sanborn Practice
Pot 859
Potti 871
Tarsala * Slide 12
Image
Detail from Cutter-Sanborn
Three-Figure Author Table
(Swanson-Swift Revision), p. 23.

13. DIY Expansion
• Titles or corporate body names
• Non-European words with j’s, q’s, x’s and z’s,
especially Arabic and Pinyin
• But … only under the same
classification number
Tarsala * Slide 13
Xa 1
Xan 2
Xav 3
Xe 4
Xen 5
Xer 6
Xl 7
Xu 8
Xy 9
Amen 511
Amer 512
Ames 513
Ames M 514
Amh 515
Ami 516
Amin 517
Amm 518
Ammir 519
American Art Association
American Art Bureau
American Art Clay Company
American Art Corporation

14. Why the Swanson-Swift Revision Was Needed
• Did not change the numbering, only the presentation
• 1969 Image: Original Cutter-Sanborn table,
ca. 1920-1940, Tarsala * Slide 14 dist. by H.R. Huntting Co.

15. Work marks
• Lower-case letters placed at the end of a cutter
number used to subarrange titles
• Letters after cutter can signal other aspects of
the work
• Script “ℓ” [Unicode U+2113]
• Instructions are available in the front of the
Cutter-Sanborn (Swanson-Swift)table
– Cutter’s “Explanation” pamphlets freely available
via Google Books, Internet Archive, etc.
Tarsala * Slide 16

16. “Two-figure” Special Issues
• No online versions of these tables except OCLC
• For vowels, use two letters before the number
– Ed98
• For the letter S, use two letters before the number
– Sm64
• For words beginning with the letters Sc, use three
letters before the number
– Sch56
• Also includes Cutter three-figures
– Not for Cutter-Sanborn
Tarsala * Slide 15

17. Last Words From Charles Ammi Cutter
“Some persons are
apprehensive that this
decimal arrangement will be
hard to use. …
It may be so sometimes;
I can only say that I never had
any difficulty with any one,
boy or girl, man or woman,
when the arrangement is
explained as it is above.”
Charles A. Cutter, Explanation of the alphabetic-order marks
Tarsala * Slide 17 (two-figure tables) (1911), p. 5.

18. USING CUTTERING WITH
CLASSIFICATION
Library of Congress logo from
Tarsala * Slide 18 Wikimedia Commons

19. Cutters in LC Call Numbers
• A Library of Congress call number may have one, two,
or three cutter numbers
– Rarely: none
– Three are used only in Class G for maps
• The first one is always preceded by a period
• Subsequent ones are not
• One letter + one or two digits
– Rarely: three or more
• LC Cutters file decimally, with or without the period
in front of them
• There are no work marks
Tarsala * Slide 19

20. How is Cuttering Used in LCC?
• Author’s last name
• Topic words
UH30 Military Cyclists
.F8 = Fürstenberg
• Geographical Place Names
• Subarranging Types of Works
Tarsala * Slide 20
TS755 Gemstones
.P3 = Pearls
G2972 Atlas
.T3 = Tahiti
GV884 Basketball players
.J63 Magic Johnson
A3 = Autobiography

21. Types of LC Cutter Tables
• General Use
• Biography Table
• Regions and Countries
• Translations
• Table XL for literary “Z” cutters
Tarsala * Slide 21

22. Availability of LC Cutter Tables
• Online Toolboxes
• Library of Congress Classification and
Shelflisting Manual
– PDF Downloads from Library of Congress (free)
– Through Cataloger’s Desktop (subscription)
• Printed
– Cataloging Textbooks
– Lois Mai Chan’s Guide to the Library of
Congress Classification
Tarsala * Slide 22

23. Basic Practice with LC Cutters
Tarsala * Slide 23 Image from Library of Congress Classification and Shelflisting Manual, sheet G63

24. The Name of the Game is Shelflisting
Tarsala * Slide 24
“Since the table provides
only a general framework for
the assignment of numbers,
the symbol for a particular
name or work is constant
only under a particular class
number.”
Photo of Lois Mai Chan from
Library of Congress Cataloging Directorate, 2001.
Quote: Chan’s Cataloging and Classification, 2nd ed, p. 288.
Lois Mai Chan

25. Shelflisting in Practice
Make newcomers fit with existing numbers
to preserve alphabetical order
LC Call Number Author/Title
SF426.5.B35 2012 Baines, Rebecca Everything Dogs
SF426.5.B37 1987 Bare, Colleen Stanley To Love a Dog
SF426.5.B375 2000 Barner, BobWalk the Dog
SF426.5.B38 1990 Barrett, Norman S. Dogs
SF426.5 ???? 2014 Barzoi, Sam A Special Dog
SF426.5.B45 2006 Bennett, Leonie My Dog’s a Mommy
SF426.5.B47 2001 Berman, Ruth My Pet Dog
SF426.5.B53 2000 Blankenhorn, Rebecca World of Dogs
SF426.5.B63 2007 Bodden, Valerie Dogs
Tarsala * Slide 25

26. Shelflisting in Practice
Make newcomers fit with existing numbers
to preserve alphabetical order
LC Call Number “Correct”
Tarsala * Slide 26
Cutter
Author/Title
SF426.5.B35 2012 .B35 Baines, Rebecca Everything Dogs
SF426.5.B37 1987 .B37 Bare, Colleen Stanley To Love a Dog
SF426.5.B375 2000 .B376 Barner, BobWalk the Dog
SF426.5.B38 1990 .B377 Barrett, Norman S. Dogs
SF426.5.B385 2014 .B379 Barzoi, Sam A Special Dog
SF426.5.B45 2006 .B46 Bennett, Leonie My Dog’s a Mommy
SF426.5.B47 2001 .B47 Berman, Ruth My Pet Dog
SF426.5.B53 2000 .B53 Blankenhorn, Rebecca World of Dogs
SF426.5.B63 2007 .B63 Bodden, Valerie Dogs

27. For a more advanced understanding of
LC cuttering, register for my
Library of Congress Classification
eCourse opening October 6, 2014
Tarsala * Slide 27
Image: Manual of Library Classification and Shelf Arrangement (1898), p. 167.
Internet Archive Book Images