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Library Technical Services > Procedures & Documentation > Government Documents > Cataloging U.S. Hearings 

Cataloging U.S. Congressional Hearings (LTS Procedure #23)
 

Scope:  This procedure provides guidelines for the processing of bibliographic records for U.S. Congressional Hearings in LTS Olin.

Contacts: Anna Korhonen, Lisa Maybury

Unit: OKU Serials Receiving and Documents

Date last updated: 09/20/07

Date of next review: September 2008


Congressional Committees
Call Numbers for U.S. Congressional Hearings
Assigning Call Numbers
Item Records and Binding

A.  Congressional Committees

  1. Olin Library is a depository library for U.S. Congressional hearings.
  2. There are four types of committees in Congress:
    • Standing committees are the most important committees and have the power to hold hearings.
    • Joint committees consist of members from both the House and Senate and coordinate committee systems to avoid duplication of effort.
    • Select or special committees are established within both houses of Congress to investigate specific problems.
    • Subcommittees are specialized subdivisions of the standing, joint, and select (or special) committees.
B.  Call numbers for U.S. Congressional Hearings
  1. For items being added to the O/K/U collections, LTS follows LC practice and classifies at KF25-KF27.5. For all other collections, however, these items should be classified according to subject.

    KF25:  Joint committees (e.g., KF25.A8 for United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy)

    KF26:  Senate standing committees (e.g., KF26.A35 for UnitedStates. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, andForestry)

    KF26.5:  Senate select or special committees (e.g., KF26.5.A3 for United States. Congress. Senate. Special Committee on Aging)

    KF27:  House standing committees (e.g., KF27.B5 for United States. Congress. House. Committee on Banking, Finance, and Affairs)

    KF27.5:  House select or special committees (e.g., KF27.5.N3 forUnited States. Congress. House. Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control)

  2. Elements of the call number: KF26.A35 1994

    KF26  (class number for Senate standing committee)

    A35    (A from the first letter of Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry)

    1994   (date of hearing, not publication date)

    1994a   (If the committee issues more than one meeting in a given year, a work letter is added to the date of hearing, startingwith "a" and continuing through the alphabet in order of receipt.)

    Each subcommittee has its own number, an extension of the main committee number: e.g., KF26.A3533 1991 (A3533 is a number for Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Subcommittee on Agricultural Credit.)

C.  Assigning call numbers

  1. For items with LC copy, assign the LC call number without appending any additional letter (e.g., olin KF27.A345 1993a).

    However, if LC copy contains errors in the 050, use the correct call number and append a "q". This needs the same call number index searching as required for member copy or original cataloging.

  2. For items from member copy or original cataloging,search "call number" index,find the latest number for that particular committee and assign the next consecutive no., and add "q" as the second work letter. For example, if you find KF27.A366 1997c as the latest number, the call number for the book in hand will be KF27.A366 1997dq. If the next number consists of the year alone, assign the work letters "bq" (e.g.,KF27.A366 1998bq). This is to avoid conflicts between LC and locally assigned call numbers.

    Consecutive call number examples (locally assigned call numbers):

    KF27.A366 1998bq
    KF27.A366 1998zq
    KF27.A366 1998aaq
    KF27.A366 1998abq
    KF27.A366 1998azq
  3. For committees that lack assigned numbers, make new numbers that fit alphabetically between the already existing committees. First search the authority file to see if it is a name change. If it is, continue to use same number.
D.  Item records and binding

  1. Create an item record and barcode each item whether it is a single volume or a multi-volume.
  2. No items are stiffened. The Conservation staff, however, add paper covers to the items without beige or green paper covers. Therefore, when a multi-volume work includes both items with colored covers and items without covers, put the items with colored covers on the bookmarking truck and the items without covers on the stiffening truck.