What is this drop down box?

When I am editing a book record what is the dropdown box to the right of the title space that allows me to assign a book a number? I can't figure it out.

It's which character of the book's title will get used in an alphabetical sort.

For example 'The Book' you might want to sort under B, so you would set that box to 5 because B is the fifth character along (spaces get counted too).

It usually gets set automatically by the system, and leaving it blank is fine usually – the site will apply its own default rules if blank, but sometimes you might have your own preference you wish to override, and that box is how to do it. Happy sorting!

It says which character is used in alphabetizing the title. If the title begins with 'a' you probably want 3 (A good boy - a space G). If it were The Good Boy, you would probably want 5 (t h e space G). Usually this is set automatically, but you can change it so that A, B, C Book shows up properly, and I can ignore the article in Die gute alte Küche.

Thanks so much! I never in a million years would have guessed that. I wonder if they would think of putting a little "i" info button on that field to describe what it is when people hover over it.