Old Classification

This is a unique scheme devised by the first Librarian of Senate House Library. It is mostly used for older material in the Stack, but can also be found in the Periodicals, Palaeography and Art Collections.

The scheme uses letters from A-Z for the main subjects, subdivided by numbers 1-9, and lower case letters a-z for geographical areas. A few examples of the kind of codes you may see is given below. However, if you come across anything like this in the catalogues, you are strongly advised to ask a member of staff for help straight away.

Books

The first part of the code refers to the main subject, the second part refers to the order in which the books are arranged within the main subject (usually by author or name). Note the order of the following examples:

When looking for a book on the shelf, split the code into its components and deal with it bit by bit. Therefore, in the example above, first look for the Ba section, then once you have found it look for Plato.

Journals

The classification used in the Periodicals collections is based on a slightly modified Old Classification. The Periodicals Open Stack PS collection uses a simplified version of that in the Periodicals Closed Stack PR collection. As with books, the first part of the code refers to the main subject and the second part refers to the order in which the journals are arranged within the main subject (usually by the first word of the title). Note the order of the following examples:

When looking for a journal on the shelf, split the code into its components and deal with it bit by bit. Therefore, in the example above, first look for the AB section, then once you have found it look for the Journal of Linguistics.

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