Introduction

Table 3 is mostly used in the Main Class 800 Literature and like most auxiliary tables, should only be used where instructed. In fact there is no Table 3 as such. It is really a series of three tables, labeled 3A, 3B and 3C. The table was first introduced, along with other tables, in the 18th Edition (1971). Since then, it has considerably eased the number-building process in the 800s, which has always been considered a problematic area to some extent. The 19th Edition split Table 3 into 3A and 3B and the 20th Edition introduced 3C.

Number building in the 800s is as interesting as it is challenging. Not only does it require acute subject analysis, but it is also a highly faceted class, requiring different citation order in different situations. The full play of facet analysis and the versatility of synthesis can be seen in the works by or about more than one author. The split into three sub-tables certainly helps with facet analysis and synthesis of numbers. The depth of classification is amazing here.

The Main Class 800 literature has been structured as shown in Figure 11.1 on the next page. The three sub-tables are used as follows:

• • T3A lists broader literary forms applicable only to works by or about individual authors.

• • T3B consists of standard subdivisions, literary forms and their subgenres such as poetry, odes, didactic poetry, short stories, science fiction, etc., to which the facets of anthologies, history, or critical studies can be added.

• • T3C is about themes in literatures, or literature by or for different types of people. It mostly depends upon T3B for use. Independently it is also used in 808–809 and at places in 700 Arts.

Using Table 3A

The simplest of the three, Table 3A is applied to the works of individual authors: both works by an individual author and works about an individual author. In number building, such works are permitted only three facets: language, form and period, in that order. Even standard subdivisions are not added here. The facet formula is: base + form (T3A) + time period.

The base number comes from Main Class 800 embedded with the language of the literature in which the author wrote. A combination of Main Class digit 8 and the language digits constitute the compound facet known as the base number.