QFHS Library Classification Scheme

QFHS Library cataloguing and classification scheme is modelled on that designed for the Society of Australian Genealogists in Sydney. This was, in turn, designed using principles set out by S. Houghton in her Scheme designed for theclassification of historical material relating to the City of Brighton, Victoria, 1967. Users will see that it is quite different from the numerical (Dewey) system used in public libraries.

Each item in our collection is given a call number (sometimes known as shelf number). These numbers are used for all the different media in our collection—books, journals, microfiche, CDs, and electronic products.

The call numbers consist of a three tier system of letters and numbers. The first two tiers provide the classification of the item. Once an item is allocated to a class, the final number identifies the particular volume. Physical items in the Print Library are shelved by area, then by subject.

FIRST TIER:

The first character of the first tier is always a letter and indicates the geographical area to which the item relates (Table 1). Immediately after the letter, you will find a number. This represents the main subject of the work (Table 2).

Table 1 GEOGRAPHIC AREAS

Code	Geographic Area	Code	Geographic Area
A	Australia (General)	N	England
B	NSW, ACT, Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island	O	Unused
C	Victoria	P	Scotland
D	Tasmania	Q	Wales
E	South Australia	R	Ireland, Northern
F	Western Australia	S	Ireland, Republic
G	Northern Territory	T	Canada
H	Queensland	U	United States of America
I	Unused	V	Africa and Central and South America e.g. V(Afr) Africa V(WI) West Indies
J	Papua New Guinea and Pacific	W	Europe e.g. W(GER) Germany
K	New Zealand	X	Not used
L	The World	Y	Asia e.g. Y(IND) India
M	Great Britain	Z	Not used

Table 2 MAIN SUBJECT AREAS

Code	Main Subject Area	Code	Main Subject Area
1	Heraldry	6	Individual and family histories and biography
2	Genealogical guides and texts	7	Vital records–BDM, census, electoral rolls, etc
3	History–world, national, state	8	Directories, gazetteers, atlases
4	History–local	9	Generalities–encyclopedias, yearbooks, dictionaries, almanacs, newspapers
5	Royalty, dictionaries of lineage and biography, collected biography	10	Maps
		11	Journals

Thus:

B3 refers to New South Wales history
H6 refers to Queensland family history or individual’s biography
S8 refers to an atlas of the Republic of Ireland

The main subject areas of local history (4) and vital records (7) are further subdivided for some geographic areas.

If the areas to be subdivided are Australian, they are given the last three numbers of the locality postcode.

Subdivisions for England (Table 3) Scotland (Table 4), Ireland (Table 5), and non-English speaking countries (Table 6) are listed below.

In the geographical areas of Africa, Central and South America (V) and Europe (W) and Asia (Y), a group of letters denotes a further narrowing of geographic field.

Thus:

N7/43 refers to English Vital Records, Yorkshire
W(GER)2 refers to Europe, Germany, genealogical guide
H4/011 3 refers to the history of a school in Clayfield, Brisbane; Clayfield has postcode 4011

Table 3 ENGLAND		Table 4 SCOTLAND		Table 5 IRELAND
	Description		Description		Description
1	Bedfordshire	1	Aberdeenshire	R	Northern Ireland
2	Berkshire	2	Angus (formerly Forfar)	1	Co. Antrim
3	Buckinghamshire	3	Argyllshire	2	Co. Armagh
4	Cambridgeshire	4	Ayrshire	3	Co. Down
5	Channel Islands	5	Banffshire	4	Co. Fermanagh
6	Cheshire	6	Berwickshire	5	Co. Londonderry
7	Cornwall	7	Bute	6	Co. Tyrone
8	Cumberland	8	Caithness
9	Derbyshire	9	Clackmannanshire
10	Devon	10	Dumfries-shire	S	Ireland
11	Dorset	11	Dunbartonshire	1	Co. Carlow
12	Durham	12	East Lothian	2	Co. Cavan
13	Essex	13	Fife	3	Co. Clare
14	Gloucestershire	14	Hebrides	4	Co. Cork
15	Hampshire, Isle of Wight	15	Inverness-shire	5	Co. Donegal
16	Herefordshire	16	Kincardineshire	6	Co. Dublin
17	Hertfordshire	17	Kinross-shire	7	Co. Galway
18	Huntingdon	18	Kircudbrightshire	8	Co. Kerry
19	Kent	19	Lanarkshire	9	Co. Kildare
20	Lancashire	20	Midlothian	10	Co. Kilkenny
21	Leicestershire	21	Morayshire	11	Co. Leitrim
22	Lincolnshire	22	Nairn	12	Co. Laois or Leix (formerly Queens)
23	London	23	Orkney	12	Co. Laois or Leix (formerly Queens)
24	Man, Isle of	24	Peebles-shire	13	Co. Limerick
25	Middlesex	25	Perth	14	Co. Longford
26	Norfolk	26	Renfrewshire	15	Co. Louth
27	Northampton	27	Ross and Cromarty, and Western Isles	16	Co. Mayo
28	Northumberland	27	Ross and Cromarty, and Western Isles	17	Co. Meath
29	Nottinghamshire	28	Roxburghshire	18	Co. Monaghan
30	Oxfordshire	29	Selkirkshire	19	Co. Offaly (formerly Kings)
31	Rutland	30	Shetland	20	Co. Roscommon
32	Scilly Isles	31	Stirlingshire	21	Co. Sligo
33	Shropshire	32	Sutherland	22	Co. Tipperary
34	Somersetshire	33	West Lothian	23	Co. Waterford
35	Staffordshire	34	Wigtownshire	24	Co. Westmeath
36	Suffolk			25	Co. Wexford
37	Surrey			26	Co. Wicklow
38	Sussex
39	Warwickshire
40	Westmoreland
41	Wiltshire
42	Worcestershire
43	Yorkshire
44	Cumbria
45	Bristol and Avon

SECOND TIER:

This figure further divides the main subject into a large number of subsidiary subjects (table 5). Thus Leeds 1851 census index, vol 1-2 has call number N7/43 16 3.

N–England,
7–vital records,
43–Yorkshire
16–census
- 3–the third item in this class.

The Guide to probate and land jurisdictions in Denmark–Thisted County has call number W(DEN)2 21 2.

W–Europe
DEN–Denmark
2–Genealogical Guides and Texts
21–Wills
- 2–second item in this class

In case of histories of a single family, and biographies of a single individual, the second tier contains the first three letters of the family. For example, the first biography of Billy Blue would be B6 BLU 1.

Please note:

If you are searching v-Library using a call number, or part call number, you do not need to include the slash.
The area sub-divisions in table 4 are either enclosed in brackets (e.g. W(GER)2 48 2) or separated from the initial letter code by a slash (e.g. W/GER 33 1). This has no significance.
Journals are denoted by the first code component of 11, thus the fourth journal from Germany might have a code such as W11/GER 50 4.

Table 6 SECOND TIER CLASSIFICATIONS

Code	Description	Code	Description
1	Shire, manor, parish, town, city history	42	Population studies, demography
2	Business history	43	Occupations and professions
3	Education history	44	Convicts and prison system
4	Military history	45	Crime and criminals including bushrangers
5	Maritime history	46	Coroners records and inquests
6	Government, semi-government departments and institutions	47	Aborigines
7	Mining history	48	Surnames, given names
8	Architecture and buildings	49	Family Reunions
9	Discovery and exploration, explorers	50	How to do family history
10	Collected biography–a number of biographies in one volume	51	Writing family history
11	Primary industry–pastoral and agricultural	52	Map drawing
12	Secondary industry	53	Publishing and publishers
13	Electoral rolls	54	Maps
14	Parish registers and transcriptions	55	Geography, geology, archaeology
15	Cemetery Inscriptions and Death Records	56	Transport (land)
16	Census	57	Aeronautical history
17	Newspaper and periodical indexes BDM	58	Communication and technology
18	Newspaper and Periodical Indexes other than BDM	59	(Unallocated)
19	Description and Travel	60	How to do local history
20	Facsimile reprints	61	Local history resources
21	Wills	62	Newspapers–general
22	Resource centre guides; sources for genealogical information	63	Birth and baptism records
23	Ecclesiastical history	64	Composite BDM, not newspapers or parish registers
24	Taxation records	65	Legal records excluding criminal and ecclesiastical
25	Name Indexes including pedigrees	66-68	(Unallocated)
26	Medical history	69	Video and audiovisual
27	Ethnic history	70	Photography
28	Social history	71	Arts, paintings
29	Traditions and customs, folklore	72	Furniture, artefacts, pottery etc
30	Bibliographies	73	Handwriting, calligraphy
31	Societies, institutions, etc	74	Hobbies
32	Computers and microforms	75	Sport–amateur and professional
33	Word lists, dictionaries, encyclopedias	76-93	(unallocated)
34	Annuals , series	94	Royalty, peerage
35	Collective history, e.g. education, mining, architecture, discovery and exploration, social	95	Hallmarks, bookplates
36	Marriage licenses and records	96	Honours, decorations, awards (non-military)
37	Languages	97	Coins and medals
38	Political history	98	Flags and tartans
39	Land records	99	Heraldry–general
40	Emigration and immigration	100	Miscellaneous
41	Naturalisation and denization

THIRD TIER:

The final number represents a particular volume in the class. It makes the call number unique, thus helping users further identify the particular item.