Stop by the new Moffitt Library exhibit, Cataloging is Beautiful, to take a peek into the working lives of library catalogers, and to learn more about how they’ve organized and classified over 10 million volumes in the UC Berkeley Library system.
Currently on display on the third floor of Moffitt Library across from the elevators, the exhibit offers images, quotes, and informative text about the past, present, and future of cataloging. The exhibit features a How to Make Sense of a Call Number graphic (call numbers are the combination of letters and numbers that typically appear on the spine of the book to act as an “address” for finding the book’s location on the library shelves). There’s also a Library of Congress (LC) Classification chart explaining the system used to organize the book collections in the Library of Congress and in most academic libraries, including UC Berkeley. LC is different than the more well-known Dewey Decimal system, which is commonly used to classify books in public libraries.
Please note: The Moffitt Library, including the exhibit, is only open to UC Berkeley students, faculty and staff.