[IUG] How Cutter numbers are normalized for SCAT tables

["CASBURN Steven M" <stevencm at multcolib dot org>]

Many moons ago, when the world was young, Steve McLaughlin from San
Francisco PL asked:

> 2) According to the normalization rules for Dewey numbers, the normal
normalization
> (whoa!) routine strips out all spaces from the call number before the
call number
> is compared with the SCAT table. If I'm visualizing the results of
this correctly,
> a call number like 100.9 N521 would be normalized as 100.9N521, which
would fall
> beyond our current ending number for that range, which is 100.9999. Am
I
> interpreting this properly? If so, I need to change the ending numbers
of our call
> number ranges!


I just tested this idea on our system, using 13 titles which have call
numbers starting with 229.9 (we have a SCAT table range that ends with
229.9999). Two of the 13 call numbers tested consist of 229.9 followed
by a Cutter number.

If Millennium normalizes Cutter numbers in the way visualized above,
then those two titles would fall outside of any SCAT table range. If
Millennium normalizes the Cutter number in the way we hope it would,
then all 13 titles would fall within the range.

I created a review file of these titles in Create Lists, ran Millennium
Statistics on it, and looked at the Call Number report.

The result was that all 13 titles fell into the SCAT table range 220 to
229.9999, which is what we hoped for.

So, it looks as if (to use the example in Steve's post) a call number
like 100.9 N521 would be normalized (for SCAT table purposes, at least)
as 100.9 rather than as 100.9N521.


Steve


--
  Steve Casburn, ILS Coordinator, Multnomah County Library
      External address:  801 SW 10th Ave / Portland, OR  97205
      Internal address: 317/CEN/POPLB/Casburn
      Telephone:  (503) 988-4549
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      E-mail:  <stevencm at multcolib dot org>