HOW TO READ SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS (SUDOC)
AND OREGON DOCUMENT (ORDOCS) CALL NUMBERS
If you are looking for government documents, it is helpful to know how they are
categorized and shelved using the Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs)
classification scheme. This is a guide to the basic organizing principles of SuDocs
classification.
»Who first, then What
Unlike other classification systems (such as the Library of Congress Classification System, used
at OIT Library for book cataloging), the SuDocs system is not based on subject. Instead, it is
based on which government agency published the document. SuDoc call numbers are divided by
a colon: to the left is information about who wrote it, and to the right, what it is.