Today marks the completion of another important administrative step in publishing my new book Wind Energy for the Rest of Us.
The Library of Congress has assigned the Control Number 2016912305 for the title. The process isn’t complete until a printed copy of the book is received by the Library of Congress. We don’t expect books to be shipped until October.
Books produced by major publishing houses, such as by my previous publisher Chelsea Green, are assigned the all important Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. This bibliographic information is used by libraries across the United States to catalog each book.
The Library of Congress doesn’t issue this bibliographic information for small regional presses or for self-published works, such as my book. However, it does provide an alternative: the Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN). And once the Library of Congress receives a printed copy of the book, the bibliographic information is available to libraries upon request.
While seemingly arcane, obtaining a LCCN is an important step to ensure that the book reaches the widest audience possible, especially after so much time, effort, and investment has been made in its production. The LCCN appears on the copyright page along with bibliographic information and the cataloging number.
The Dewey Decimal number for the book is 621.31’2136—dc22.
The 550-page book is being indexed and book’s designer is now making final corrections. This includes finishing the copyright page.
