Arrangement of resources in the Library's Virginia Room

Books in the Virginia Room are classified according to a special scheme devised by the Rowan County Public Library (North Carolina) for genealogy and local history. Materials are arranged based on whether they focus on location or non-locational topics.

Each item in this collection is labeled RVA, followed by three lines of classification.

General Topics

Category Line 2 Line 3 Line 4
Biography AB Biographee last name Author last name
Church history national AC Location Author last name
Historic preservation AD Location Author last name
Ethnicity, immigration AE Location.Ethnic group Author last name
Family history AF Family last name Author last name
General genealogies AG Broad location (USA) Author last name
General histories AH Broad location (USA) Author last name
Miscellaneous AJ Subject Author last name

Location-Focused Materials

  • Line 2
    • State KY, MD, NC, PA, TN, VA, WV, or AA if book covers more than one state
  • Line 3
    • County (first three letters)
      • Taz: Tazewell
      • Wyt: Wythe
      • AAA: covering more than one county
    • Record type, time period, ethnic group, etc., designated by a number .3 (census records)
  • Line 4
    • Author last name

All materials focused on Tazewell County are grouped together by type of record. Spine labels look like this:

RVA
VA
Taz.84
Leslie