4.7 Classification of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

I. OBJECTIVE

Please use this policy to classify works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror in PZ 4, separately from other works of literature in the LC schedule. This includes works about these genres. Authors who write exclusively in one or more of these genres should be classified here. Judgment about authors who also write in other genres is made on a case by case basis, whether to class all their writings in PZ 4, to class all of them in the regular LC number (P-PT), or to split their works, putting science fiction, fantasy, or horror in PZ 4 and other writings in the regular LC number. These decisions should be recorded in the author’s authority record(s), which should be converted to “local” records so they won’t be overlaid during the authorities outsourcing process (see instructions at Section 2.4.4 Marking Records not to be Updated or Overlaid). If unsure, note that in most cases, science fiction, fantasy and horror are classified in PZ 4, while other genres by the same author are classified with the other works of literature in the LC schedule.

III. INSTRUCTIONS

Classify works according to the following table. Works in PZ 4 .A1 – .A5 are cuttered by main entry. Individual author numbers in PZ 4 .A6 – .Z999 are worked out according to LC table P-PZ40 (authors represented by a cutter number).
PZ 4   .A1   serials/periodicals
PZ 4   .A16   bibliography/indexes
PZ 4   .A2   history and criticism
PZ 4   .A25   works about the genre in film
PZ 4   .A26   works about the genre in television
PZ 4   .A3   encyclopedias and dictionaries
PZ 4   .A4   art
PZ 4   .A45   handbooks, manuals, etc., on writing in the genre
PZ 4   .A5   anthologies of the work of more than one author
PZ 4   .A6 – .Z999   the works of individual authors (first cutter represents author’s name) and works about them.

RARE PZ 4 .A7 = Arkham House. Arkham House is a publisher of speculative fiction that has been collected in L. Tom Perry Special Collections. The call number begins with PZ 4 .A7, and is arranged by author using a book number.

Maintained by: Bob Maxwell