LC to continue practice of establishing literary author cutter numbers for NACO participants in LC's online shelflist

The Library of Congress will continue the practice of establishing literary author numbers at the request of PCC partner institutions with the implementation of its Integrated Library System.

To briefly describe that process: a NACO institution sends an e-mail or fax request to the Cooperative Cataloging Team and a member of the COOP staff reserves a literary author number in the LC shelflist for each author as requested. The PCC participant then records that number in the 053 of the name authority record. This procedure assures that authorized literary author numbers will be available to all users of LC's bibliographic products for application in their catalogs. The full LC/NACO authority file is available in OCLC and RLIN.

Before accessing the Literary Author Number Proposal Form. NACO libraries should use LC's online shelflist via the Web for purposes of formulating a LC classification number when requesting an 053 for inclusion in a name authority record. BIBCO libraries may browse the online shelflist to assist in assigning an LC Classification number to bibliographic records they create or update. Below are instructions for searching:

After accessing the LC Online Catalog

• Select Basic Search
• In the Search Type box, select Expert Search (use index codes and operators)

• Type in the index code "05XX" and then the classification number to be searched followed by a question mark (truncation mark):
  • Example: 05XX PQ8180?

• For a more specific search put the classification number to be searched in quotes:
  • Example: 05XX "PQ8180.13?"
• In order to search for works entered under uniform titles use the index code "05UT" preceding the class number. It will provide a display which includes the uniform title.
  • Example: 05UT PQ6329?

• Press the Enter key, or click on Begin Search.
• The results of this search will be presented in a display that includes call number, name, (main author, creator, etc.), uniform title, and full title.

Go to: Literary Author Number Proposal Form.