Government Documents & Information: Documents Call Number System

The SuDoc call number system was created in the late 1800s/early 1900s. The classification scheme is based on the issuing agency. One of the interesting consequences of this scheme is that long running titles may have different call numbers over the years as the federal government reorganizes. For instance, military materials may be from the War Department (W), Dept. of the Army (M), Dept. of the Navy (N) and currently from the Dept. of Defense (D). A more recent example is the change that occurred when several government agencies were moved from Treasury and Transportation Depts., etc. to form the the Homeland Security Dept. The library will probably not retrospectively renumber the titles with the call numbers of a new agency. The Census Bureau was originally established under the Dept. of the Interior and later moved to the Dept. of Commerce. Census volumes may be found in both the I and C areas of the classification code. 

• SuDoc Tutorial (University of Minnesota Libraries) 
• Gov Docs - Call Number Quiz