Library Orientation Guide for Students

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. 

The Third Floor has the Art, Music, Language and Literature collections.  Their call numbers begin with M (Music), N (Art), and P (Language and Literature).  

The Fifth Floor has all other subjects and is called the General Collection.  The A's begin in the stacks right behind the elevator and go through the H's.  Then the H's continue in the next row, back up by the elevator and proceed to the Z's.  If you have any questions finding a book, please stop by the Access Services desk on the first floor.  

Our library uses the Library of Congress Call Number 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.  Here is the main classification outline, but you can get more in-depth breakdown on the Library of Congress site.  

A -- GENERAL WORKS 
B -- PHILOSOPHY. PSYCHOLOGY. RELIGION 
C -- AUXILIARY SCIENCES OF HISTORY 
D -- WORLD HISTORY AND HISTORY OF EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, ETC. 
E -- HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS
F -- HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS 
G -- GEOGRAPHY. ANTHROPOLOGY. RECREATION 
H -- SOCIAL SCIENCES 
J -- POLITICAL SCIENCE 
K -- LAW 
L -- EDUCATION 
M -- MUSIC AND BOOKS ON MUSIC 
N -- FINE ARTS 
Q -- SCIENCE 
R -- MEDICINE 
S -- AGRICULTURE 
T -- TECHNOLOGY 
U -- MILITARY SCIENCE 
V -- NAVAL SCIENCE 
Z -- BIBLIOGRAPHY. LIBRARY SCIENCE. INFORMATION RESOURCES (GENERAL) 

If you are looking for something fun to read, such as popular fiction, that may not be in our regular collection, we do have the Read and Return Collection in the Library's Living Room.  Non-Fiction titles are on the second floor outside of the lecture halls.  These are donated, gently used books that are free to borrow (without checkout) and we ask that you just return them when you are finished.  If you have books you would like to donate, please talk to Access Services.  

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!