FIU Libraries Urban, Regional, and Local Documents
URL Documents Classification System:
Structure
In this document you will find:
The FIU URL Classification System was created in conjunction with a cooperative collection
development policy between the University Park and North Campus Libraries. The objective was
to provide a consistent form of retrieval as urban, regional and local documents were added to the
online catalog. The project to include these collections in NOTIS includes the cooperation of the
University Park Cataloging and Documents Departments and the North Campus Cataloging and
Documents Sections. The classification system is alpha-numeric with components that identify as
many as five levels of organization. The first level organizes material by geography. Alpha
geographic codes were established for the counties included in the scope of the collections, the
places within the jurisdiction of those counties and the region which encompasses this group of
counties. A code was also established for the state of Florida to bring together state-wide
documents not included in the purview of the State Depository collection. The numeric second
level is subject-based with a potential decimal number extension for the third level which modifies
material according to population groups and/or function. The fourth level then arranges material
by the type of publication. The last level distinguishes one title from another and uses a book
extension to identify multiple pieces if necessary.
This classification system is geography-based. Upper case letters were used as geographic codes
for the initial component which provides the basic level of organization of the classification
system. Since the first letter of the names of the five counties included in the South Florida region
did not pose any conflicts, it was chosen to represent the county. The one letter county code is
used alone for documents whose coverage is county-wide or deal with more than one place within
the county. It is used in combination with other letters to represent places within the counties.
The geographic codes for unincorporated areas with a name were formed from the first two
letters of one word names or the initial letters of the first two words of multiple-word names. If
this rule does not create an alphabetic arrangement of places, the codes are adjusted to permit an
alphabetic arrangement. The two letter code for unincorporated areas follows the one letter
county code and is separated from it by a shilling mark. (/, i.e. L/LL). Documents for
unincorporated areas would immediately follow county documents.
Place name geographic codes are made up of three upper case letters. For one word place names
the first three letters are used. For two word place names, the first choice is to use the first two
letters of the first word with the first letter of the second word. The second choice would be to
use the first letter of the first word with the first two letters of the second word. Examples of
when the alternative would be used are: 1) the first option does not create an alphabetic
arrangement, 2) the second choice provides maximum flexibility for possible additions, or 3) only
the first letter of a direction (north, south, east, or west) is used. Exceptions to these guidelines
were made to preserve an alphabetic arrangement of place names.
Significant neighborhoods within a place are identified by a two letter code. The place code and
the neighborhood code are separated by a shilling mark (/), which follows the place code and is
separated in the same way as unincorporated areas. The two letter neighborhood codes are
established with the same rules used for unincorporated areas.
Four letter codes for the South Florida Region and the State of Florida were also established. The
regional code is used for documents which cover the the South Florida Region or more than one
county within the region. The state code is used for state-wide documents or those that deal with
more than one region. It is used only for documents outside the scope of the State Depository
collection. Appendix A contains a complete listing of
the geographic codes.
The second level of organization is numeric with up to four digits. The third and fourth digits
represent a general subject category, while the first and second digits represent a specific subject
category. Treating these elements independently permitted a non-hierarchial classification and
allowed up to ninety-nine possibilities for each category, an adequate number even for specific
subject categories. The use of a zero as the fourth digit in the general subject category is optional
as it does not change the value of the number. The use of a zero as the second digit in the specific
category is mandatory since its absence would alter the number. An outline of the general subject
categories precedes the subject codes in Appendix B .
The third component is a three digit decimal number extension of the subject categories number.
If applicable, it is used to modify the subject according to both population group and/or function.
The first two digits are used to represent population groups. The third digit is used to represent a
"function:. Both aspects may be utilized in a classification number or each aspect may be present
individually. If only a population group is used as a modifier, the extension may appear as a two
digit number since there would be no function value assigned to the third digit. When only a
function modifier is used, leading zeroes for the first and second digit must be used to preserve
the third digit value for function.
The term function is used here to identify the "functional aspects" of governing bodies. Planning
and budget are examples of functions used for this extension. There is a complete listing of the
definitions and codes for population group and function extensions in Appendix C .
The extension for type of publication is used for all titles. It is the fourth component and follows
the population group/function extension if that extension is used. When the population
group/function extension is not used the type of publication extension directly follows the subject
categories number. It is separated from the preceding component by a schilling mark (/). The
fourteen types of publications were adapted from the Superintendent of Documents Classification
System with only minor changes. A complete listing is found in Appendix D .
The last component is the title/series designator which is represented by a Cutter number. The
Cutter table used for this alpha-numeric method of alphabetizing is from the shelflisting section of
the Library of Congress's Subject Cataloging Manual. When the need to repeat a Cutter number
occurs, a schilling mark followed by the number of the occurrence (/n) is used as and extension.
For example, the second occurrence of the cutter C 53 would be represented by C 53/2 and the
third occurrence would appear as C 53/3. This is the same method used in the Superintendent of
Documents Classification System.
For multi-part or serial titles, a book number extension follows the Cutter number. a schilling
mark(/) also separates the book number form the Cutter number and is used to separate different
parts of a book number. There are many ways to identify the pieces of a serial or multi-part title.
for titles whose issues or editions are distinguished by a year or range of years, the last three digits
of the date/dates are used as a book number. When a date and a month identify issues, the last
three digits of the year are followed by the number of the month separated by a schilling mark (/).
When the enumeration is a volume number and an issue number, the book number extension
consists of these numbers separated by a shilling mark. The preceding patterns as well as
additional conventions form other documents classifications systems are used along with common
sense to distinguish multiple parts and pieces. Appendix E
contains the Cutter table and a list of sample book number extensions.
A thesaurus was created from the terms in the classification system. It serves as an index to the
system and is used to provide "keyword" access to the collection in lieu of subject access from
assignment of Library of Congress subject headings. The thesaurus is included as Appendix F .
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