G 100  Filing Rules  (General)

BACKGROUND:  When establishing Cutters and filing new entries in its shelflist, the Library of Congress follows the principles of filing stated in the Library of Congress Filing Rules (LCFR) (Washington : Library of Congress, 1980).  Since the shelflist consists of entries formulated under a variety of cataloging practices and rules, the filing principles require some modifications for the particular needs of the manually arranged shelflist.  This instruction provides additional guidelines that should be followed when filing cards in the shelflist.  It should be used in connection with LCFR.

The following are some of the significant differences between the Library of Congress Filing Rules and earlier rules:

Abbreviations are filed exactly as they are written, not as if they were spelled out in full, e.g., St. is filed after Ss, not after Sains.  Abbreviations that do not include periods are filed as if they were words, e.g., AMA is filed as Ama.

Initial articles and prefixes in personal and place names are treated as filing elements, e.g., El Paso is filed under E, not under P.

Numbers expressed in digits rather than in spelled-out form are filed before letters, e.g., 1990 is filed before the letter A rather than under N (as in Nineteen-ninety) or O (as in One thousand nine hundred ninety).

Hyphens are ignored in filing, and words connected by hyphens are filed as though they were two separate words.

Diacritics are ignored in filing, e.g., Hände is filed as Hande, not as Haende.

For the most part these rules have been "superimposed" upon previous filing arrangements, i.e. previously established or shelflisted entries have been retained as valid and only newly established or shelflisted entries have been filed according to the new rules.  As a result, two filing systems can be observed within the classification schedules and the shelflist.  The use of the old rules may be inferred when a call number lacks a date, because the routine use of dates in monographs did not begin until 1982.

PROCEDURES:

1.  General principle

File elements in a filing entry in exactly the form and order in which they appear.  Apply the "file-as-is" principle.  Arrange the major components of a filing entry word by word, and then character by character.  Arrange individual letters according to the order of the English alphabet (A-Z).

Note:  Before 1981 entries were usually filed as if they were spelled out in the language of the text.  The assumption was that a reader might know how a name sounded, not how it was spelled.

2.  Modified letters

Treat modified letters like their equivalents in the English alphabet.  Ignore diacritical marks and modifications of recognizable English letters.

Examples:

Note:  Before 1981, letters with umlauts were filed as if followed by the letter e, e.g., ä was filed as if it were ae; ü was filed as if it were ue.

Several languages that use the Roman alphabet also employ special letters that have no immediately recognizable equivalents in that alphabet.

Examples:

3.  Order of fields with identical leading elements

When the identical filing elements in a group represent different types of entries, arrange the group as follows:  person, place, corporate body, title.

Example:

Cumberland, Richard

Cumberland (Md.)

Cumberland (Frigate)

Cumberland / Michael V. Smith

4.  Place names

When the leading elements of two or more place names at the beginning of a corporate name heading are identical, group the fields together as follows:  place name alone, place name followed by a parenthetical qualifier, place name followed by a comma and additional words.

Example:

Cambridge. University. Board of Graduate Studies.

Cambridge (Mass.). City Council.

Cambridge, Eng. Environment Committee.

Cambridge Apostles (Society).

Cambridge Glass Company

5.  Identical filing entries

Consider the title to extend only to the first significant mark of punctuation which will be either a period ( . ) or a slash ( / ).  If two identical but unrelated title entries appear in the same class, arrange the entries by imprint date using successive Cutters, in order of receipt.

Example:

Education today / 1966

Education today. 1966

Education today / by John Smith. 1969

Education today. 1977

Education today (Boston)

Education today--and how it works. 1970

Education today : language teaching. 1966

6.  Abbreviations

File abbreviations exactly as written.

Examples:

Doctor Ludlum strikes again

Down and out

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

Drake--explorer and warrior

Mister Doctor Blo

Mme. Begue and her recipes

Mr. Drackle and his dragons

Mrs. Appleyard's family kitchen

Note:  Before 1981 abbreviations were filed as spelled out in the language of the text.

7.  Bracketed data

If the word sic appears in the filing entry within angle brackets, omit it from the filing entry.  If the data within the brackets begins with i.e., omit the data within the brackets from the filing entry.  If the data within the brackets is something other than sic or i.e., include it in the filing entry.

Examples:

Some of me pomes [sic]  [sic is omitted]

The Paul Anthony Buck [i.e. Brick] lectures  [Brick is omitted]

Duo [for] violin and piano  [for is included for filing]

8.  Hyphenated words

Treat words connected by a hyphen as separate words, regardless of language.

Examples:

Anti-aircraft guns

The Anti-masonic Herald

The Anti-slavery examiner

Anticaglia, Elizabeth, 1939-

Ibanez, Blasco

Ibn-al-Batutah

Ibn-al-Baytah

Note:  Before 1981, hyphenated words beginning with prefixes such as "anti-" were filed as one word.  Other special rules were also applied.

9.  Initial articles

Ignore initial articles in the nominative case that appear at the beginning of a main entry whether they appear separately or are elided.  Disregard the following definite and indefinite articles in filing in the shelflist.

Note:  No attempt is made to differentiate cardinal numbers from articles when they are the same in any given language.

The following languages do not contain articles.  It is not necessary to determine whether or not the first word in the title is an article.

10.  Initial articles in place names and personal names

Treat initial articles that form a part of place names and personal names as an integral part of the heading and regard them in filing.

Examples:

El-Ad, Avri, 1925-

El Astillero, Spain

el-Ayouty, Eisha Yassin Mohamed, 1932-

El Cid Campeador

El, ella y el otro

El-Mokadem, Ahmed Mohamed

Las, Michal

Las Lomas, Calif.

Lasa, Amaia

11.  Initials and acronyms

a.  Marks of punctuation.  Treat initials separated by marks of punctuation and/or spaces as separate words.

b.  Without marks of punctuation.  Treat acronyms and initials not separated in any way as single words regardless of capitalization.  When initials and acronyms are followed only by ellipses or other marks of omission, disregard the ellipses or marks of omission.  If an additional letter or letters follows the mark of omission, they are treated as if they constitute a new word.

Examples:

A.B.C. atlas of Isle of Wight

A. W. Johnson Enterprises

Aavik, Johannes

ABC health series

Afaisen, Johnny

AFL-CIO

American Philosophical Society

AW leadership journal

Note:  Before 1981 initials, whether containing punctuation or not, were filed before words beginning with the same initial letter.  Hence FORTRAN filed before Fable.

12.  Names with a prefix

Treat a prefix that is part of a name or place as a separate word unless it is joined to the rest of the name directly or by an apostrophe without a space.  File letter by letter.

Examples:

Darby, Joseph R.

D'Arcy, Paula, 1947-

De, S. C.

De La Cruz, Jessie Lopez, 1919-

De Lange, Elaine

DeAndrea, William L.

D'Ebneth, Maria Scholten de

Deformation of solids

Del Balzo, Giulio

Delaurier, William J.

Note:  Before 1981 personal and place names with prefixes were filed as one word regardless of the actual spelling.  This enabled names such as La Salle and Lasalle to file together.

Mabney, William

MacDonald, Joan E., 1916-

Marshall, Catherine, 1914-

McGrath, Suzanne

Metal products manufacturing

Note:  Before 1981 names with M', Mc, and Mac were all interfiled as if they were spelled Mac.

13.  Numerals

a.  Numbers expressed as words.  File numbers expressed as words alphabetically, e.g., file seventy-six trombones under "S," not under "7."

b.  Numbers expressed in digits or other notation.  File numbers expressed in digits (1243) or other notation (XXVII) preceding letters.  Arrange such numbers according to their numerical value.  Assign a Cutter in the A12-19 range for these entries.  Normally, entries beginning with numerals should appear before entries beginning with the letter A.

Note:  Before 1981, numerals in titles were arranged as if spelled out in the language of the rest of the title.

c.  Numerals after a decimal point.  Arrange numerals after a decimal point digit by digit, one place at a time.  Arrange decimal numerals that are not combined with a whole numeral (e.g., .45) before the numeral 1.  Arrange decimal numerals that are combined with a whole numeral after all entries with the same whole numeral alone.

d.  Fractions.  Since fractions are perceived in the online catalog as two numbers, file them behind any Arabic numerals and after any Roman numerals as the numerical value would indicate (e.g., 1/4 files after the number 1 and not before the number I) (cf. see section 13.c. above).

e.  Comprehensive example for filing of numerals.

.303 -inch machine gun and small armies

1 2 3 for Christmas

1,2, buckle my shoe

1/4 famba y 19 cuentos mas

1a [i..e. Prima] Mostra Toscenta/scultura

2 1/2 minute talk treasury

3/4 for 3

3 died variously

IV [i.e. Cuarto] Concurso El Poeta Joven del Peru

838 ways to amuse a child

1984

A is for anatomy

Aa, Abraham

Henry II

Henry 3

Longitude 30 west

Longitude and time

Nineteen eighty-four

One, two, three for fun

Three 14th century English mystics

Three by Tey

14.  Chronological arrangements

When numbers or dates distinguish between otherwise identical entries, use a numerical or a chronological arrangement, rather than an alphabetical arrangement.

Examples:

More, Paul Elmer

Shelburne essays... Third series

More, Paul Elmer

Shelburne essays... Seventh series

More, Paul Elmer

Shelburne essays... Eighth series

Vermont. Council of Censors, 1785-1786.

Vermont. Council of Censors, 1792.

Vermont. Council of Censors, 1813-1814.

United States. President (1953-1961 : Eisenhower)

United States. President (1961-1963 : Kennedy)

United States. President (1964-1969 : Johnson)

15.  Ampersand and other symbols

The ampersand ( & ) is the only symbol that has filing value.  It follows spaces and precedes the lowest Arabic numeral or alphabetic character.  Ignore all other symbols when filing into the shelflist.

Examples:

A. & A. Enterprises Incorporated

A 99, Autobahnring Munchen

The A.A. way of life

A and H Printers

Solar engineering

Solar engineering & contracting

Solar engineering - 1982

16.  Words with apostrophes

Arrange elided words, possessives and other words with apostrophes as one word.

Examples:

The taint in politics

'Taint right

Tainted contracts

Ja! Til sionismen?

J'accuse

Jack and the beanstalk

Twos and threes

Two's company

Two's two

Note:  When the first part of the elision is an article in the nominative case, it is generally ignored.

17.  Compound names

File single surnames before compound surnames.

Example:

Carvalho, Vladimir Souza

Carvalho, Walden Camilo de, 1948-

Carvalho, Waldir P.

Carvalho, Filho, Adhemar F. de

Carvalho, Júnior, Eugênio

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