LOC - Strange Catalog number

Go easy on me - I Am Not A Librarian (s).

Just added to my catalog Storm Front by Jim Butcher, the first Dresden Files title. I always try to use LOC for source for adding books... Got a very strange LOC number :
CPB Box no. 1853 vol. 11

This looks nothing like the typical LOC starting with 2 letters (BR, BX, PJ, etc). So what does it mean? With some explanation I might be encouraged to dig deeper on the LOC website. Thanks in advance!

It's not a real number in the Library of Congress classification, since C = "auxiliary sciences of history" and there is no "CP" subclass as far as I know. It's an acronym of some sort, probably starting with "Copyright Paperback", or maybe "Copyright Preservation".

I vaguely remember that these CPB Box books are books sent to the Copyright Office for registration of copyright. I believe LC doesn't fully catalogue these paperbacks by providing classification or subject analysis or shelve them in the regular collection, but instead does a basic author/title transcription/physical description of them for inventory purposes and then stores them for preservation. So this item is the 11th book in box 1853 in the CPB collection/room.

Yes, shmjay is right. This book is part of the "Copyright paperback collection," items that are (usually) not fully cataloged and are held primarily for copyright desposit purposes.

If you want a correct LC call no., it is:
PS 3602 .U85 S86 2000 (classed separately); or:
PS 3602 .U85 D74 bk.1 (classed together by series)
The title cutter numbers (S86 or D74) can be adjusted to fit your own collection.

Some months ago (on the LT Google group I think) I posted a query about strange LC call numbers with an "x" in them; for example:

http://www.librarything.com/work-info.php?book=1080472
http://www.librarything.com/work-info.php?book=1077479
http://www.librarything.com/work-info.php?book=1054534

PS 2404 .D74x 1800z
E 208 .L27x 1989
LD 6337 .R93 2001x

Does anyone have any definitive information on what the x represents? You can see more by scanning down through my "check" list of titles to be verified in some way (such as checking the correct call number):

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?tag=check&view=rjohara&shelf=lis...

"x" is used by some libraries as a tag to mean "we assigned this call number, not Library of Congress". You can delete it.

Ah ha! Thank you -- that looks like it might be right, since the x only seems to appear on non-LC MARC records, as far as I have seen.

Here's another strong one, this from LC itself:

CS71.R284+

http://www.librarything.com/work-info.php?book=1052044

I know that "+" is used in some libraries to indicate an oversize volume, but this is just a standard octavo. Any idea what the + would mean? (I never mind changing data when I know what I'm changing, but I hate to alter something that might carry interesting meaning, but that I just don't recognize.)

CPB is for the Copyright Paperback Collection and it is housed in the Rare Book Division of the Library. It is an attempt to get one copy of any work originally released in mass market paperback held somewhere in the Library. While trade paperbacks can be rebound and shelved in the regular stacks, mass market books do not have this advantage.

The Copyright Paperback Collection is over 70,000 volumes and to make it easy to house, the books are put in acid free boxes, so the item above is in box 1853 and is no. 11 in that box.

More info on this collection at:

http://www.loc.gov/cds/notices/notcopypaper.html
http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9616/scifi.html

I am one of the authors of the second article if you have any question on that.
Colleen

rjohara,

The Read family of Salem, Massachusetts was added to LibraryThing on Nov 27, 2005 at which time the Library of Congress had not completed assigning the entire "call no.".

The "+" was internal LoC notation that the "call no." was incomplete. If you check the LoC catalog today for this title you will see the "call no." is complete.

In the past at LoC catalogers assigned the "classification no." and clerical self listers assigned the "cutter" resulting in a complete "call no.".

For those interested --

When you search the LoC catalog (using the web interface, not the Z39.50) and have the record for a work displayed, select the tab for "MARC tags" and check the code in subfield "b" of the 906 field

906 __ |a 7 |b cbc

the first "c" in the |b subfield means that LC has completed the cataloging for that record

If you find

906 __ |a 7 |b ibc

The "i" in the |b field means that what you are seeing is an "initial" bibliographic control record -- data in the record may change before the code is changed to |b cbc

There are other codes used in the first position of the |b subfield but most LoC MARC records that you examine will use the |b ibc to indicate "work in progress"

Check the 005 field in the MARC record for the date of the last change to that record:

From the record for the Read family
005 20060605121804.0

The record was last changed on June 5, 2006
===========================
From LoC documentation at http://www.loc.gov/cds/PDFdownloads/dcm/DCM_2006-0102.pdf

$b Local record completion state (NR)
Subfield $b contains a code that indicates the state of the record with respect to whether its cataloging has been completed or not. Alternatively, it identifies
some records created in support of a function other than cataloging. Codes include the following:

acq : Acquisition Support Record
acc : Accession Record
bbc : Basic Bibliographic Control (Serials only)
cbc : Completed Bibliographic Control
cbu : Completed Bibliographic Control (Unverified)
cir : Circulation Support Record
ibc : Initial Bibliographic Control
par : Partial Bibliographic Control (Serials only)
rip : Revised CIP Cataloging/Revised CIP Data
rix : Revised CIP Cataloging/No Revised CIP Data
vip : CIP Verification in Process
und : Undetermined

cbc : Completed Bibliographic Control.
This code indicates that whatever cataloging state the record represents has been completed. Use it for completed full, core, or minimal level bibliographic records. Use it also for completed CIP pre-publication cataloging.

ibc : Initial Bibliographic Control.
This code indicates that whatever cataloging state the record represents has not yet been completed and the record is still in its “initial” state.

Thanks all for the information. Very interesting. ccah: read your article, now I just want to ask, can you get me a telecommuting job at the LOC? Course, that wouldnt be at all as interesting as being physically at the facilities.

Thanks indeed, especially to libros, for the very helpful information. I've got some other obscure LC call number problems (Bibles, e.g.) that I'll check on and post questions about soon.

Many thanks.