LC Call Numbers - Start Letters Space

What is this?

One pattern that can show up in LC call numbers in catalogs is starting with one or more Letters followed by a space.

  • E 2.12:0051
  • WM 420 .W8724 1994
  • TH 1 .B850
  • JE SHE
  • S 91-123

Why is this trouble?

This is a non-standard way of recording a Library of Congress call number, which may cause issues in parsing or reporting those numbers.

This pattern may be an indicator of a different kind of call number, such as SuDoc, NLM, or other schemes.

How to Find

If you are in Alma, there is an analysis to search for this issue in the "Looking for Trouble" folder. Go to the "LC Call Numbers" folder and look for the "Start Letters Space" analysis.

If you can search or filter your call numbers by regular expression, use the expression /^[A-Z]+ /.