Shelf Mark

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Language Variants

Signatur; Signatuur; Nimekkeen; Numero.

Usage Notes

This is a common term within library science, complicated only by the fact that there is not a one-to-one relationship between the physical object and the digital one in the case of newspapers. Because most digitised newspapers come from volumes of several issues bound together, and the majority of libraries do not disbind them to scan (except, notably, the British Library), the shelf mark should be taken to refer to the physical volume from which the newspaper issue has come, if not the full run as defined by normalised newspaper title. These volumes can be dedicated to one specific newspaper, or issues from a specific year taken from a range of newspapers.

Examples:

“Absolute and unchanging fixed locations are normally only found in older libraries and collections that are kept in their original rooms or buildings. This is known as a shelf mark or class mark, the latter term reflecting the fact that CLASSIFICATION numbers (sometimes abbreviated in the case of complex FACETED CLASSIFICATIONS are often used to derive the location mark. Fixed location is normally associated with CLOSED-ACCESS libraries.” [Feather and Sturges, 202]

“banden van nieuwe signature voorzien en ondergebracht …”