Library Skills

    Although books may seem antiquated in the electronic age, they are still an invaluable source for research information, as well as pleasure reading.  Everyone should be familiar with the basic lay-out of a library.

Important Points:

• To look up a TOPIC:
  • You can go straight to an encyclopedia – check the volume whose spine has the letter your topic begins with (check the “T” volume of the encyclopedia for information on “trains”)
  • You can use a card catalog or online book catalog to see what books in the library deal with that topic.  Ask your librarian for help with this.
• To look up a PERSON:
  • Search by the LAST NAME.
  • You can go straight to an encyclopedia – check the volume whose spine has the letter your topic begins with (check the “R” volume of the encyclopedia for information on “Paul Robeson”)
  • You can use a card catalog or online book catalog to see what books in the library deal with that person.  Ask your librarian for help with this.
• Libraries arrange their books in one of two ways (depending on the types of books) – either ALPHABETICALLY by the author’s last name, or by CALL NUMBER.
• Call Numbers:
  • The codes the library puts on the spines of the books to help people find what they’re looking for.
  • Books are shelved according to the call numbers.
  • Combination of letters and/or numbers.
  • If there are only letters, the book is probably either fiction (FIC) or reference (REF)
  • If there are numbers, the numbers are part of the Dewey Decimal Classification system (see below), and the letters are the first part of the author’s last name.
• Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) - Formerly known as the Dewey Decimal System, this is a method for putting books into categories to make them easier to sort and find. 
  • Learn more about the DDC here. (PowerPoint slideshow)
  • You can also learn how to decode the DDC numbers here.
  • Here is a numerical list of DDC numbers and their main categories.
  • Here is a more specific numerical list of DDC numbers and topics.
  • Here is an alphabetized list of subjects and their DDC numbers.
• Books are often divided by genre, or the style of writing. 
  • The three main divisions are "Fiction", "Non-Fiction", and “Reference” 
  • Usually, non-fiction books are classified using the DDC.
  • Fiction books are often sub-divided into categories (or sub-genres) such as "Mystery", "Science Fiction", and "Children's Literature".
  • Reference books use a combination of the DDC and sub-genres
• Within a sub-genre, books are usually placed on the shelf in a specific order. 
  • They are alphabetized by the author's last name. 
    • For example, a book by Stephen King would go on the shelf before a book by Spider Robinson, but after a book by Orson Scott Card (K comes before R in the alphabet, but after C). 
    • Similarly, a book by Michael Crichton would go after a book by Orson Scott Card (both last names start with C, so we look at the second letter of the last name; Ca comes before Cr, because A comes before R in the alphabet).
    • A book by Stephen King would go before a book by Stephen Kinge (when one word is spelled the same as another but has additional letters, the shorter word goes first, alphabetically).
  • If there are two authors with the same last name, the person placing the book on the shelf then refers to the authors' first names. 
    • For example, Stephen King goes before Tabitha King (since the last names are spelled the same way, we start with the first letter of the first name, and S comes before T in the alphabet).
    • Similarly, Stephen King would go before Steven King (since the last names are spelled the same way, we start working through the letters of the first names; Step comes before Stev, because P comes before V in the alphabet)
  • If a single author has more than one books, the books are often arranged alphabetically by the title of the story, though sometimes they are arranged by the original copyright date instead. 
    • Arranging by copyright date allows books in a series to be placed in the proper order on the shelf, even if they titles don't follow each other alphabetically. 
    • For example, if we had copies of Stephen King's books The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three, they could be organized by title (Drawing before Gunslinger, since D comes before G and we should ignore articles at the beginning of titles [articles include The, A, An]).
    • We could also organize those books by copyright date, which would put The Gunslinger first and The Drawing of the Three second (Gunslinger's original copyright date is 1982, which we find on the publication information page, and Drawing's original copyright date is 1987).  Since these particular books are part of a series, this might be a better way to shelve these books.