The 12 Filing Rules

Exercises For Filing

Rule 1   

Names of Individuals. When indexing the name of an individual, arrange the units in this order: last name as Unit 1, first name or initial as Unit 2, and middle name or initial as Unit 3. A unit consisting of just an initial precedes a unit that consists of a complete name beginning with the same letter. Punctuation, such as a period or apostrophe, is omitted. 

Rule 2      

Personal Names with Prefixes. Prefixes, such as Mc in McAdams is considered as part of the name it precedes. Ignore any apostrophe or space that may appear within or after the prefix. Commonly used prefixes are d’ D’ de, De, Del, De la, Di, Du, El, Fits, La, Le, M, Mac, Mc, O’, Saint, St. Van, Van de, Van der, Von, and Von der.

Hyphenated Personal Names. Consider a hyphenated first, middle, or last name as one unit. Do not include the hyphen in the unit name.

Rule 4 

Single Letters and Abbreviations of Personal Names. Initials in personal names (J.D., A.J.) are considered separate indexing units. Abbreviations of personal names (Wm., Jos.) and nicknames (Bill, Rick, Ali) are indexed as they are written.

Rule #5 

Personal Names With Titles and Suffixes. When used with a person’s name, a title or a suffix is the last indexing unit when needed to distinguish between two or more identical names. A title appears before a name (Capt., Dr., Miss, Mr., Mrs., Ms., Prof., Sgt.). Suffixes appear after a name and include seniority terms (II, III, Jr., Sr.) and professional designations (CPA, CRM, CMA, MD, Ph.D.). Some terms may appear either before or after the name (Senator, Mayor). If a name contains both a title and a suffix, the title is the last unit.

Royal and religious titles (King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Father, Sister) are considered professional designation suffixes unless they are followed by either a given name or a surname only (Father John, Princess Anna) in which case, they are indexed as written.

Rule #6 

Names of Businesses and Organizations. Business names are indexed as written using the letterhead or trademark as a guide. If the letterhead is not available, use sources such as directories (phone, Internet) and advertisements.

Each word in a business name is a separate unit. Exception: When The is the first word of the business name, it is treated as the last unit. Business names containing personal names are indexed as written. Hyphenated names and names with prefixes are considered one unit.

Rule 7 

Single Letters and Abbreviations in Business and Organization Names. Single letters in business and organization names are indexed as written. If single letters are separated by spaces, index each letter as a separate unit. An acronym (word formed from the first few letters of several words, such as ARMA and F.I.C.A,) is indexed as one unit regardless of punctuation or spacing.

Abbreviated words (Mfg, Co., Corp., Inc.) and names (IBM, GE) are indexed as written and as one unit regardless of punctuation or spacing. Radio and television station call letters (WBCO, ABC) are also indexed as written and as one unit.

Rule 8 

Punctuation and Possessives in Business and Organization Names. All punctuation is ignored when indexing business and organization names. Commas, periods, hyphens, apostrophes, dashes, exclamation points, question marks, quotation marks, and diagonals (/) are disregarded and names are indexed as written.

Rule 9 

Numbers in Business and Organization Names. Arabic numbers written in digits (1,15,189) and Roman numerals (II, IV, IX) are considered one unit and are filed in numeric order before alphabetic characters with Arabic numbers preceding Roman numerals (2, 156, III, XIV).

Numbers spelled out (ONE, TWELVE, FORTY) are filed alphabetically and appear after numbers written in digits or Roman numerals. Names with numbers included are filed in ascending order (lowest to highest number) before alphabetic names (B4 SHOP, B12 VITAMIN CLUB, BATTING A THOUSAND SPORTING GOODS). Names with numbers appearing in other than the first unit are filed alphabetically and immediately before a similar name without a number (PIER 28 IMPORTS, PIER AND PORT RESTAURANT). The letters st, d, and th following an Arabic number are ignored (1^st is indexed as 1, 2^nd as 2, 5^th as 5 and so on).

Inclusive or hyphenated numbers (7-11 Grocery Store) are indexed according to the number before the hyphen and the number after the hyphen is ignored (7 GROCERY STORE). Hyphenated numbers that are spelled out (Thirty-one Flavors) are considered one unit and the hyphen is ignored (THIRTYONE FLAVORS). An Arabic number followed by a hyphen and a word (7-Gables) is considered one unit (7GABLES) and the hyphen is ignored.

Rule 10 

Symbols in Business and Organization Names. If a symbol is part of a name, the symbol is indexed as if spelled out. When a symbol is used with a number without spacing between ($5, #1), it is considered one unit and the symbol is spelled out (5DOLLAR, NUMBER1).

Rule 11 

Government Names. Government names are indexed first by the name of the government unit – country, state, county, or city. Next, index the distinctive name of the department, bureau, office, or board. The words "Office of", "Department of", "Bureau of", etc. are separate indexing units when they are part of the official name.

State and Local Government

State and local government names are indexed first by the name of the state, providence, county, city, or town that has jurisdiction over that government agency. The distinctive name of the agency is considered next. For example, a city will have jurisdiction over a board of education, so the city would be indexed first, then the board of education. The words "State of", "County of", "City of’, "Department of", etc. are added only if needed for clarity and if it is in the official name.

State and Local Government Names - Listed by Unit

United States Government Names

United States government names are indexed first under United States Government, then by the distinctive name of the department, bureau or service. The words "Department of", "Bureau of", etc. follow if it part of the official name. In each of the following examples, Unit 1 is United, Unit 2 is States, and Unit 3 is Government.

*Note that table begins with Unit 4; Units 1-3 are displayed above the table to save space

Foreign Government Names

Foreign government names are indexed first by the name of the country, then by the name of the distinctive department, bureau, or board. The words "Department of", "Bureau of", "Ministry of", etc. follow if it part of the official name.

References
Listed below are a number of available publications to help in filing government names.

State Government:
State Information Book, by Susan Lukowski

U.S. Government:
United States Government Manual , published annually
Congressional Directory, published annually

Foreign Government:
Countries, Dependencies, Areas of Special Sovereignty, and Their Principal Administrative Divisions, published by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards
World Almanac and Book of Facts, updated annually

Rule 12 Addresses. When personal names and names of businesses and organizations are otherwise identical, the filing order is determined by the address. The elements of the address are considered in the following order: City, State (spelled out in full), Street Name, Quadrant (NE, NW, SE, SW), House or Building Number

NOTE: Because space is limited in example below, Unit 1 is displayed above and indexing begins with Unit 2.