1. The first line of a call number may begin with one, two, or three letters. Read these letters alphabetically. A call number that begins with A is shelved before one that begins with B, C, etc.; a call number that begins with QE is located before one that starts with QL.
2. The second lineof a call number is a number that may have one or more digits. Read this line numerically.
3. The third line is the trickiest part of the call number: The letters are shelved alphabetically, and the numbers following the letters are treated as if they were preceded by a decimal.. Thus:
This makes sense if you read the numbers as decimals!
4. The final lines of the call numbers may include dates, volume or issue numbers, copy numbers, and other annotations, such as "supplement". Read these annotations after the rest of the call number.