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Table of Contents

• Instructions for Applying Table G
•       United States -- Special Instructions
•      Examples for Applying Table G
•      Expanded Country Notation

Instructions for Applying Table G

Table G is a system of notations that provides geographical or jurisdictional arrangement of materials under specific class numbers in the NLM Classification. The use of Table G permits a shelving order which is controlled geographically and alphabetically. Table G is applied only when a class number heading is annotated by "(Table G)." When LC Classification numbers are used, the geographical breakdown or tables provided in the LC schedules are applied.

The geographic tables of the NLM Classification consist of nine geographic regions. Additionally, special provision is made for international agencies that frequently publish materials related to medicine. Each region or group is identified by a letter.

A--United States

D--Americas

F--Great Britain

G--Europe

H--Africa

J--Middle East and Asia

K--Australasia

L--Islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans

M--International Agencies

P--Polar Regions

The notation is composed of two letters and one or two numbers from the Cutter-Sanborn tables. The first letter of a notation represents the geographical region or jurisdiction, and the second one is the first letter of the name of a country or, in the case for the states of the United States, a state.

New geographic notations are interpolated into Table G when needed following the established pattern. When a country changes its name a Table G notation is assigned to the new name. The notation for the latest form of a name is used regardless of which form of name is found in the item or when the item was produced. Exception: For serials classed in W2, use the appropriate Table G notation for the country name used at the time of publication.

The Table provides a state or political unit break down only for the United States and Great Britain. A work that is limited to a city, or a state, province or its equivalent, takes the geographic notation for the state or country, or for the smallest area below the national level that has its own notation. Other heavily used state or country notations may be modified to form county (province, state, etc.) or city notations by the addition of .1 (county) or .2 (city) to the appropriate notation.

Examples:

Instructions on how to expand a country notation are given below under an Expanded Country Notation. Table G notations no longer in use are found in Table G under the heading Obsolete Table G Notations.

United States -- Special Instructions

Special provisions are made for United States government documents published at the federal, state or local level. Works pertaining to the internal affairs of the various departments or agencies of the U.S. Federal Government, with the exception of the Armed Forces, take the designation "A."

Publications pertaining to the internal affairs of the Armed Forces take the following designations:

A1 Department of Defense

A2 Department of the Army

A3 Army Air Forces (to 1947)

A4 Department of the Air Force

A5 Department of the Navy

AA1 is used for materials pertaining to the United States as a whole but not to the internal affairs of the government. AA1 is used also for materials that span four or more states or territories, unless there is a number for the region.

As noted above, each state is provided with a separate number. The only city appearing in Table G is New York City. For other subordinate political units in the United States it is the individual state number which is so modified, as indicated above.

Examples for Applying Table G

1. Application of Table G to monographic materials.

Foreign

2. The application of Table G to serial documents (W2)

United States

Foreign

3. The application of Table G to hospital reports

As instructed in the WX schedule under "WX 2 Serial hospital reports" these serials are arranged geographically and cuttered for the hospital. Decimal subdivisions .1 and .2 for subordinate political divisions are not used, but a notation is added to represent the city.

Civilian hospitals

U.S. Military Hospitals.

Named hospitals have fixed locations and are cuttered the same way as civilian hospitals except that the military symbol precedes the geographical notation. Numbered hospitals did not have fixed locations and geographical notation is not applied to them.

EXPANDED COUNTRY NOTATION

The expanded country notation below for Australia is an example of how a cataloging agency may expand the notation of a state, country, etc. when the need arises. NLM has used this method; however, since these expansions are infrequent and on an ad hoc basis they are not printed in the Classification.

This kind of pattern can be used for any single country number.