Cutter Table

CRS Home > LC Cutter Tables > Definition: Cutter number. Cutter number: Also called Cutter, a method of representing words or names by using a decimal point followed first by a letter of the alphabet, then by one or more Arabic numerals. A Cutter number is read and sorted as a decimal number. It is an alphanumeric device to code text so that it can be arranged in alphabetical order using the fewest characters. It contains one or two initial letters and Arabic numbers, treated as a decimal. As we have seen, cutter numbers consist of a letter of the alphabet, followed by one or more Arabic numerals. Cutters usually represent names, titles, subjects, and geographic places, but can represent other aspects of resources, too. Call numbers may contain either one or two cutters.