This document explains the practices of assigning call numbers to books in the Yale University Music Library. These practices may or may not coincide with those of other libraries.

Call Numbers: Gilmore Music Library vs elsewhere

The call numbers assigned to the same book by different units within the Yale Library may look very different. Call numbers for books cataloged in other libraries using LC classification may include (LC) at the end. This is to distinguish the LC classification numbers from the old Yale class numbers, which used an initial upper case letter followed by a second lower case letter. The old Yale class number generally will not be close alphabetically to the corresponding LC class number.

Mt10 = the old Yale class for folk songs and national songs
MT10 = the LC class number for teachers' and supervisors' manuals, etc. of printed pedagogical aids for music

Call numbers for books in other library units may also include an upper case X or a date. These call numbers are for the same books held by different Yale libraries:

MUS: ML3800 B786 M9
SML: ML3800 B785X 2007 (LC)

MUS: ML3800 B816 M9
SML: ML3800 B796X 2008 (LC)

Note: The Yale Music Library does not use decimal points in the Cutter number:

Include the decimal point in the 050 field in the OCLC bib record, but not in the local holdings record.

Classification numbers

Music Monographs (i.e. books about music) will be classed in ML or MT, with rare exceptions, such as critical reports supplementing scores classed in M3.

The first element of a Music call number is the class letter and number.

• Use ML for books about a person, place, specific type of music, or instrument.

• Use MT for instructional books or books about music theory.

  • Note: Books that contain mostly analysis of a composer's work(s) should be classed in MT rather than ML410. When in doubt, you can sometimes answer your question by finding out if the author is a musicologist or a music theorist.

  • Examples:

    • A Soviet credo : Shostakovich's fourth symphony - MT130. This book contains more material analyzing the musical structure than it does aesthetic criticism or historical context.

    • Beethoven symphonies revisited : performance, expression and impact - ML410. This book contains more material discussing the reception history and listening experience than musical analysis.

Cutter numbers (Current practice as of April 2025)

For local practice in using Cutter numbers, see Using the Cutter-Sanborn Three-Figure Author Table.

The second line of the call number is a Cutter number for main entry or for subject.

• Main entry, using the first letter and two to four numbers, when the topic of the book is implied by the class number, e.g., ML390 is for collected biography of composers.
  This can be either author as main entry or title as main entry.

• Subject, when the topic of the book is indicated by a Cutter number added to the class number,
  e.g., ML410 is for biographies of individual composers. The first Cutter number should represent the composer who is the topic of the book. Depending on the class, the Cutter number for the subject of a book can be for:

  • person

  • topic, such as a class number subdivided by a Cutter for a specific instrument (guitar), a specific type of music (jazz), or other topics (notation, performance practice), etc.

  • place.

  • See also When to use LC Cutters number vs Cutter-Sanborn numbers in class numbers subarranged by instrument, topic, person, or place

Levels of Cuttering

For most class numbers, including those Cuttered by subject, a single Cutter number for the main entry will not always be sufficient for alphabetical filing. In these cases, additional Cutter numbers are added to ensure both a correct sequence of titles and room for related works to shelve in order.

For Cutter numbers added after the main entry, assign a 2 digit Cutter number based on the filing word. For Q and X, use a 1 digit number.

Resolving conflicts

Browse the shelf list in Alma for the item’s call number, filtering by the “music” library code, to determine if a conflict exists (i.e., the author Cutter number is the same as one assigned to another author), or an alternate Cutter number for the author has already been assigned. Use the alternate Cutter for the author if already established. If an author Cutter number is already in use within that class, edit the Cutter number to file alphabetically.

To file before the conflict: add a digit to the conflicting Cutter number “minus 1.”

To file immediately after the conflict: add a digit to the conflicting Cutter number.

To file between two conflicting Cutter numbers: assign the minimum number of additional digits to file alphabetically. When possible, leave room for further conflicts to resolve.

To file with matching first words: use the next word in the entry as the deciding factor.

Cutter by main entry

Author as main entry

If the main entry is the author, use the Cutter-Sanborn Three-Figure Author Table to find the appropriate Cutter number.

Example: Adorno = Ador = A241

Title as main entry

If the main entry is the title, as with edited collections of essays, use the Cutter-Sanborn Three-Figure Author Table to find the appropriate Cutter number, based on the first filing word in the title.
Example: The mystic : Holst’s Neptune in context = mystic = M998

Conflicts: as with author as main entry, when two titles in a given class number have the same first filing word, adjust the Cutter number to file alphabetically by the whole entry (i.e., the full title).

Cutter by subject

Agent as subject

If the agent (person/family/corporate body) is a composer, use the Cutter number already established for the composer:

If the composer is not listed, or the agent is not a composer (i.e., performer, ensemble, instrument maker, etc.) use the Cutter-Sanborn Three-Figure Author Table to find the appropriate Cutter number.

Example: Muhly, Nico = Muh = M952.

Class numbers for books with composer as subject

Across ML and MT, there are a number of classifications that are subarranged “by Composer A-Z.” Yale practice is generally consistent across the class numbers, with a few exceptions. The table below shows a sample of how to treat the class numbers when cataloging books locally.

Note on ML410-ML429: Local practice is to further divide the class number for individual biography and criticism and interpretation with the A10X numbers below. The number is added immediately following the Cutter number for the agent and is followed by any further Cutter numbers needed for main entry, etc. Works that do not fit into one of these categories are Cuttered by main entry after the agent.

Example: To live & die on Zug Island / Ryan Bartek (autobiography) = ML419 B283 A103

Topic as subject

Assign Cutter numbers for topics either as outlined in LC Classification or by using the Cutter-Sanborn table, following this guide to local practice.

Place as subject

When using a Cutter number for place, add a second Cutter for main entry.

Example: ML200.8 (Literature on music—History and criticism—By region or country—America—North America—United States—By city, A-Z). Locally, place is further divided by the institution, society, etc. (Philharmonic) that is the subject of the book for some cities, like New York. A third Cutter number, when needed, is added for main entry:

Although it is LC policy to limit a call number to two Cutter numbers, it is Yale policy to use a third Cutter number when deemed necessary.

Further elements needed to make the call number unique

Additional Cutter number

A third Cutter number is added for the titles of books in class numbers that are always Cuttered by subject.

Date of publication

The date of publication is added to call numbers for different editions issued by the same publisher:

Reprints

Add the original date of publication followed by a lower case letter as the last element of the call number. This is added whether or not we own the original edition.

If we receive more than one reprint of the same publication, assign lower case letters to the original date of publication alphabetically in order of receipt.

Translations

Additional numbers are added to the title Cutter number to indicate that the item is a translation. In general, assign additional numbers according to the practice laid out in the LC Classification and Shelflisting Manual G 150 (Translations/Texts in Parallel Languages).

Add the extra number even when we do not own the item in the original language.

When both a preferred title (130 or 240) and a title proper (245) exist, the title Cutter number should be based on the preferred title.

In the example below, we have multiple later editions of the 1817 original and a translation of the 1851 edition. In addition to the numbers "13" to indicate translation into English, the date is also added to the second call number:

These call numbers give examples of several elements used to distinguish among different publication dates, reprints, and translations:

Conference proceedings

Conference proceedings, when Cuttered by main entry, use the first filing word of the name of the conference for a three-digit Cutter number, followed by the year of the conference.

Past practice

Before April of 2025, Cutter numbers following the main entry were given 1 digit (Sonata = S6). In certain classification ranges, such as ML410, this led to frequent conflicts which were resolved by first adding a digit to the last Cutter number for the first conflict, then “adding 1” to the Cutter number for each subsequent conflict.

For the purpose of maintaining documentation of historical practices, the remainder of this page contains in its pre-2025 form, the original practices for expanding Music Library call numbers. However, these links are not being updated, and may be broken.

Further elements needed to make the call number unique

Additional number added to final Cutter number or additional Cutter number | Date of publication

Additional number added to the final Cutter number or an additional Cutter number

In this example, an additional number was added to the Cutter number for main entry in the second call number to avoid using the same Cutter number for different authors.