055 - Classification Numbers Assigned in Canada

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Library of Congress. They maintain various cataloging resources, including a classification system which uses the LC classification schedules with sections specially developed for Canadian history, literature, and law.  

The call numbers assigned using this classification, whether assigned by the LAC or by libraries who contribute to their catalog are found in the 055 tag.

The structure of this tag parallels that of the 050 tag:

• subfield a is the classification portion of the call number
• subfield b is the item portion of the call number
• the first indicator tells you if the item is in the LAC collection

The second indicator in the 055 tag contains information about the source and completeness of the classification. Because these call numbers can be created by various libraries there are several possible values used. A complete set of valid codes for this indicator is included in BF&S.