Skip to Main Content

IAD 216: Textiles, Products, and Materials: ...in-person

How to search for print books in our library

1. Use the search box within the "Search our catalog" box on this page to input your keywords.

2. Look to the column on the right under the "Material type" section and click "Books."
Screenshot of the section of the library catalog described above with a superimposed red arrow pointing to "books."

3. Now look to the right column again under "Show only." Click "Available in the Library."
Screenshot of the described section of the library catalog above with a superimposed red arrow pointing to "Available in the Library."

4. See a title that looks interesting? The information you need to find it in-person is right there in the list of results. The entry itself often has other information to help you determine if it's useful, so click on the title if you want to know more about it first.

Screenshot of an entry in the catalog with "Available Online" underneath the title, author, and publisher information. A superimposed red arrow points to the floor it's located on and the call number.

5. Before coming to the library, check our hours and make sure you have your UMass Pass to check out the book!

Browsing for Interior Architecture + Design Books

Books piled up with mushrooms growing from some of them.
 100Landschaftsarchitektur, Jardin de la Connaissance, 2010, books, multi-colored wooden plates,
and mushrooms, 250 sq. meters, Quebec, https://www.archdaily.com/72833/jardin-de-la-connaissance-100landschaftsarchitektur.

 

Our library uses Library of Congress Classification to organize our books by call number. If you know a little bit about what the call numbers stand for, you can browse the stacks more efficiently. 

 

Here are the main subclasses and a few sub-subclasses that interior architecture + design often have interest in.

 

3rd Floor:

N - Visual arts

NA - Architecture

NA 1-60 - General

NA 100-130 - Architecture and the sate

NA 190-1555.5 – History

NA 1995 - Architecture as a profession

NA 2000-2320 - Study and teaching. Research

NA 2335-2360 - Competitions

NA 2400-2460 – Museums. Exhibitions

NA 2500-2599 - General works

NA 2599.5-2599.9 - Architectural criticism

NA 2695-2793 - Architectural drawing and design

NA 2835-4050 - Details and decoration

NA 4100-8480 - Special Classes of buildings

NA 4100-4145 - Classed by material

NA 4150-4160 - Classed by form

NA 4710-8480 - Classed by use

NA 4170-(7020) - Public buildings

NA 4590-5621 - Religious architecture

NA 7100-7884 - Domestic architecture. Houses. Dwellings

NA 7910-8125 - Clubhouses, guild houses, etc.

NA 8200-8260 - Farm architecture

NA 8300-8480 - Outbuildings, gates, fences, etc.

NA 9000-9428 - Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying

NB – Sculpture

NC - Drawing, Design, Illustration

ND – Painting

NE - Print Media

NK - Decorative arts

NK 1-570 - General

NK 600-806 – History

NK 1135-1149.5 – Arts and crafts movement

NK 1160-1590 - Decoration and ornament. Design

NK 1160-1174 - General

NK 1175-(1498) - History

NK 1505-1535 - General works

NK 1548-1590 - Special subjects for design

NK 1648-1678 - Religious art

NK 1700-2195 - Interior decoration. House decoration

NK 1700-2138 - General. History, etc. Including special rooms

NK 2140-2180 - Decorative painting

NK 2190-2192 - Church decoration

NK 2200-2750 - Furniture

NK 2775-2898 - Rugs and carpets

NK 2975-3049 - Tapestries

NK 3175-3296.3 - Upholstery. Drapery

NK 3375-(9990) - Other arts and art industries

NK 3700-4695 - Ceramics

NK 4700-4890 - Costume

NK 5100-5440 - Glass

NK 5500-6060 - Glyptic arts

NK 6400-8459 - Metalwork

NK 8800-9505.5 - Textiles

NK 9600-9955 - Woodwork

NX - Arts in General

Click here for a more thorough explanation of the Visual Arts (N) call numbers.

 

5th floor:

TH - Building construction

TS - Manufactures

TT - Handicrafts. Arts and crafts

TT 180-200 - Woodworking. Furniture making. Upholstering.

TT 387-410 - Soft home furnishings

TX - Home economics

TX 901-946.5 - Hospitality industry. Hotels, clubs, restaurants, etc. Food service

TX 955-985 - Building operation and housekeeping

Click here for a more thorough explanation of the Technology (T) call numbers.

Search our catalog

Use the search box below to run a quick search for books, or use the advanced search page to limit your material type to books prior to searching. 

Reading Call Numbers

Here's a quick guide on how to read call numbers in our library (and most other academic libraries).

 

An image of a call number on a side of a book. An arrow points to the first line.

The first line is read in alphabetical order.

  • ex. This would be before the PQ's but after the PM's.

 

An image of a call number on a side of a book. An arrow points to the second line.

Read the second line in numerical order.

  • ex. This would be after PN 6746 and before PN 6747.1 or PN 6748.

 

An image of a call number on a side of a book. An arrow points to the third line.

The third line is tricky. Read the letter in alphabetical order then the number as a decimal.

  • ex. PN 6747 .S245 would come before PN 6747 .S5, because .5 in decimal is really .500!

 

An image of a call number on a side of a book. An arrow points to the fourth line.

Sometimes the fourth line will look like this and you read it exactly like the other line.

  • ex. PN 6747 .S245 P4713 would come before PN 6747 .S245 P8, because .8 in decimal is really .800!

 

An image of a call number on a side of a book. An arrow points to the fifth line.

When you see a line near the bottom that looks like a year, it is a year! This goes in numerical order.

  • ex. If there was a book just like this except the date was 2003, it would go before the 2007 edition.

 

You could think of a call number like a detailed address in reverse: planet, country, state, city, street, street number. Each line helps you narrow down the book's exact location!