Liberal Arts

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."

3. Now look to the right column again under "Show only." Click "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.

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

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

Since liberal arts covers many different subject areas, I suggest taking a look at the classification system yourself to explore what subject is under which call number.

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

The first line is read in alphabetical order.

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

Read the second line in numerical order.

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

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!

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!

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!