Gutman Library organizes its print and multimedia collections by subject. These subjects are represented by a call number system called the Dewey Decimal System, or DDC.

The DDC uses ten categories--called "classes"-- to organize, or "classify"  knowledge. Each of these ten classes is further subdivided into ten more specific divisions, for instance from 700 to 790.

Say you are looking for the book 'How to Make Battenburg Lace' by Kay Montclare. Using the online catalog, you would find that the call number is 746.22042 M771h. But what does this number mean?

746	700s are the call number range that covers the Arts The 740s are Drawing and Decorative Art Specifically, the 746s are Textile Arts
746.22042	The second section describes the subject in more detail The 746.2s cover Laces and related fabrics The additional numbers--.22042--further describe the book as being about making lace
746.22042 M771h	The third section describes the author. M771 identifies this book as being written by the author Montclare. This part of the call number helps keep the books in alphabetical order by author in the 746.22042 section. (Authors with names that would precede Montclare alphabetically would have a number lower than 771). Finally, the h stands for the first letter of the title of this book ("How")