Government Documents Cataloging

The classification scheme for Florida public documents consists of a four element code:

1. A two or three letter code for each Florida governmental agency followed by a decimal point and another letter representing agency divisions.
2. A numerical designation for type of publication.
3. A "cutter" type designation for each individual publication or series.
4. A designation for each individual publication within a series or for new editions of monographic publications.

This classification system was developed by Florida Atlantic University for their Florida Depository collection and has been adopted by many of the state depository libraries.

Listing of agency codes

Each agency within the Florida governmental structure is assigned a unique two or three letter code - usually an acronym for the agency name - followed by a decimal point and an arbitrary letter to designate a division of the agency. Each agency name is rearranged so that it will appear alphabetically under the first important or distinctive word in the agency name.

Example:

Department of Education becomes Education Department -- EDU

EDU.A -- Department of Education

EDU.B -- Public Schools Division

EDU.C -- Division of Applied Technology & Adult Education

The second element of the classification is the number from the chart below which most nearly describes the type of document being classified.

1. Annual report (1b for biennial report) (annual series)
2. General publications (2b directories)
3. Serials, series, periodicals (numbered or dated)
4. Folders, circulars, descriptive materials (posters)
5. Laws administered by the agency
6. Rules and regulations of the agency
7. News releases, statistical releases, newsletters, etc.
8. Handbooks, guides, maps, manuals
9. Proceedings, minutes, transactions, journals (reprints of journal articles)

The "Type of Publication" designation uses a punctuation mark, the colon (:) , to separate it from the next element of the code.

The classification code is completed according to the following schedule. If the "Type of Publication" is:

1. Annual report - Follow with a three year digit code for the final year in the report (i.e., annual report of the Education Department for the 1976-1977 academic year would be EDU.A1:977).
   Use the last three digits for years before 2000, e.g., 1881 = 881 and 1998 = 998; for years 2000+ use the full four digits
2. General publications - Follow with the cutter number from the "Simplified Cutter Numbers for Florida Documents" for the first distinctive or important word in the title. New editions are noted by adding virgule or slash (/) and three digit year code for year of later edition.
   1. For Florida documents, the words in the tile which are not considered distinctive include "Florida" or "government" or "annual" or "report" so you would skip over those words for the cutter number, e.g., The Florida Government Accountability Report from the Auditor General's Office is cuttered for the first three letters in the word "accountability" as A22 representing the letters A and C and C, so the 2008 edition would be AUD.B 2:A22/G 58/2008
3. Serials - Follow with the cutter number for the first distinctive or important word in the series title, followed by a slash and volume/issue number. If unnumbered, year/month/date in number code (i.e., May 25, 1969 becomes 969/5/25 ).
4. Folders - Use the same structure as #2 General publications
5. Laws - Use the same structure as #2 General publications
6. Rules - Use the same structure as #2 General publications
7. News releases - Use the same structure as #2 General publications
8. Handbooks - Use the same structure as #2 General publications
9. Proceedings - Use the same structure as #2 General publications

The cutter number is formed by taking the first letter of the word to be cuttered, followed by the number for the next two letters (independent of each other) as indicated on the following scale:

• A - B, 1
• C - D, 2
• E - G, 3
• H - K, 4
• L - O, 5
• P - R, 6
• S - T, 7
• U - W, 8
• X - Z, 9

Examples:

Accountability = A22

Birds = B46

Tax = T19

Conflicts in cutter numbers, arising from two different publications from the same agency on the same subject (a rarity), are resolved by adding a slash and a number for succeeding publications if adjustment in the cutter number is not possible in the shelf list.

Example:

Two general publications from the Agriculture and Consumer Services Department, Forestry Division, whose titles begin with the distinctive word "birds" would become AGR.L2:B46 for the first title and either AGR.L2:B47 or AGR.L2:B46/2 for the second title. Giving the second title the cutter of B47 is an example of adjusting because that number was not already in use for a title cuttered for the first three letters "Bis" or "Bit"; if such a title was subsequently received, it could be given the slash treatment (B47/2) instead.