What is the purpose of Cutter Numbers?

Question

I have seen Cutter Numbers used alongside the Dewey Decimal System. What purpose do they serve? What is the benefit of using Cutter Numbers over the first 3 of the author's last name (ie: 646.404 DOM for a book by Erica Domesek)?

Answer 1

It's a sort of hash function that maps names to simple combinations of a letter and one to three numbers. Combined with a bit of human oversight it means books on the same topic by different authors with the same name can be uniquely and accurately identified.

As with all cataloguing practices, local needs come first. In your example, if that works for you, great. But then how do you handle another book on the same subject by Placido Domingo, and a third by Vobiscum Dominus? Cutter numbers give you a simple and traditional way of distinguishing them all and arriving at a unique call number for that item.

Answer 2

So that library-school students can have a secret handshake? (That's how I teach Cutter numbers.)

Er, I think this is one case where the answer is just "tradition." That, and Cutter numbers in their baroque way handle the case of multiple authors with identical last names, which relying on last name alone won't do.

Answer 3

The author number created will help the materials being catalogue fall into alphabetical order on the shelves.