Hey everyone, A few weeks ago, we ran into a problem that stumped us. While cataloging, we found a few books that contained a backslash towards the end of the call number. We didn’t know what it meant, so we searched online but found nothing conclusive. So, we did what any good librarian would do: we asked other librarians. We used the chat feature of the Library of Congress, and they connected us to the cataloging department. Shout out to Camilla, the LC cataloger, who helped us with our question! Here was her answer: “That slash in the Dewey number is called a segmentation mark.” Classifiers insert segmentation marks in Dewey numbers for either of two reasons: either to indicate the end of the number for the same topic in the abridged edition, or to show the beginning of a standard subdivision. Classifiers at the Library of Congress carefully insert segmentation marks in the Dewey numbers that they assign to the works that they catalog. Older bibliographic records will have Dewey numbers that will contain two separate marks, one to show the end of the abridged number and a second to show the beginning of the standard subdivision.” These are the resources Camilla shared with us: - https://ddc.typepad.com/025431/2005/06/one_segmentatio.html, - https://www.loc.gov/aba/dewey/segmentation.htm <https://www.loc.gov/aba/dewey/segmentation.html>l “ While this solved our issue, it made us wonder if anyone else has run into a recent Dewey question. Catch you in the catalog, Amy and India *The views and opinions expressed in content from partner agencies do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah State Library Division.* -- Amy C. Banks *CATALOGING LIBRARIAN* *she/her/hers* State Library Division <https://library.utah.gov/> | 801.715.6754 250 North 1950 West, Ste. A Salt Lake City, Utah 84116-7901 <https://www.facebook.com/UtahStateLibrary/> <https://www.instagram.com/utahstatelibrary/> Sign up for our newsletter! <https://library.utah.gov/publications/>