UC Standard for Spine Lettering

To provide clarity and uniformity in the rendering of book spine titles, a set of standard guidelines and abbreviations have been established from input provided by the UC binderies and the UC preservation operations committee.

General Guidelines

1. Use all upper case letters in both the mid spine area and the call number area (this has been amended to allow lower case in the call number)
2. Eliminate spaces and use periods only where necessary to separate elements, i.e., PT. 2, PP. 1-32, C. 2, or for series, i.e., N. S.
3. Discontinue the use of codes (e.g., dashes or periods) to indicate line spacing, and use three spaces between titles and subtitles. The binderies apply standard spacing between elements, based on the thickness of the book and the size of type used.

Mid-Spine Abbreviations (Titles)

Some campuses use foreign terms (tome, folge), which should be abbreviated similarly:

Call Number Abbreviations

Foreign words for "volume" or "part" in the call number. They should be abbreviated similarly, but consistently for a given title.

Shelving locations (Imprint). Retain option to place imprint either above or below call number.

Additions: