Federal Government Documents Tutorial
Meaning of SuDoc Numbers
The following paragraphs describe how SuDoc numbers are
constructed. This discussion will be helpful to you if you're interested
in what these numbers mean, but you don't have to know this information before
you make use of it. You can simply think of SuDoc numbers as a location
device to find documents in the bookstacks or Microform Room.
A SuDoc number is made up of several elements, from general to
specific as the number is read left to right. Each complete number
uniquely identifies a publication. The first element identifies the
cabinet level department, or independent agency, that issued a document.
| Examples |
| A |
Agriculture Department |
| C |
Commerce Department |
| D |
Defense Department |
| HH |
Health and Human Services Department |
| PM |
Office of Personnel Management |
| SI |
Smithsonian Institution |
| but also |
| X |
for the title, Congressional Record |
| Y1 and Y4 |
for Congress |
| Y3 |
for Commissions and Councils |
The Y3 and Y4 numbers carry an additional element that specifies
the Congressional committee or the commission/council. This additional
element consists of one or two letters and one or two numbers that represent a
significant word in the agency's name. It's called a "cutter
number." Examples:
| Examples |
| Y3.Ad9/8: |
Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental
Relations |
| Y3.Af8: |
African Development Foundation |
| Y3.C76/3: |
Consumer Product Safety Commission |
| Y3.Ex7/3: |
Export-Import Bank of the United States |
|
| Y4.Ag8/1: |
Agriculture Committee (House) |
| Y4.Ag8/3: |
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
(Senate) |
| Y4.Ec7: |
Joint Economic Committee |
| Y4.Ed8/1: |
Education and Workforce Committee (House) |
| Y4.En2: |
Energy and Natural Resources Committee
(Senate) |
The second element of a SuDoc number represents the subdivision of
the cabinet level department or independent agency. This second element
is made up of one to three digits, and is followed by a period:
| Examples |
| A1. |
Agriculture Department, publications from the
department as a whole |
| A13. |
Agriculture Department, Forest Service |
| C3. |
Commerce Department, Census Bureau |
| D201. |
Defense Department, Navy |
| SI8. |
Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of
Art |
A SuDoc number's third element represents a specific series of
documents published by an agency. "Series" is rather loosely defined in
some instances to be catch-all spots for "general publications" or "handbooks,
manuals, guides." This portion of the call number sits between the
period after the department subdivision and a colon. It may contain as
many as four digits. It's important to know that the period in the call
number is just a place marker, it does not represent a decimal fraction.
The numbers in SuDoc number elements file as whole number integers, not as
fractions.
| Examples that may be used with
any department or agency: |
| .1: |
Annual reports |
| .2: |
General publications |
| .5: |
Laws |
| .6: |
Regulations, rules, instructions |
Some very large departments use one or more digits after the period
to specify an additional level of the issuing agency's hierarchy of
offices:
| Examples |
| HE20.10#: |
President's Council on Physical Fitness and
Sports |
| HE20.30#: |
Indian Health Service |
| HE20.300#: |
National Institutes of Health |
| HE20.310#: |
National Cancer Institute |
In addition to the general types of publications noted above,
"series" in this part of a SuDoc number often equate to a specific
bibliographic series of publications, or even a periodical title:
| Examples |
| A1.47: |
Agricultural statistics |
| C13.22: |
Journal of Research of the NIST |
| D114.19: |
Army Historical Series |
| I19.16: |
Geological Survey Professional Papers |
| Y3.EL2/3:10 |
FEC Journal of Election Administration |
| Y4.Ec7:7 |
Economic Indicators |
Note that, with the additional element in Y3. and Y4. SuDoc
numbers, the element to specify a specific series falls to the right of the
colon.
This much of a SuDoc number is called its "stem." The final
element of a SuDoc number (usually that which follows the colon) identifies a
specific title or piece of a serial publication. This part of the call
number may have any one of a number of different styles.
| Examples |
| :1997 |
the year for an annual publication |
| :6/8 |
volume / number sequence |
| :1997/10 |
a year / month sequence |
| :1234 |
a report number for publications issued in
numerical order |
| :Et3 |
a cutter number drawn from a significant title
word |
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