Ask the Library: Reference

Search for a book in the catalog. Once  you've found a title that you are interested in click on the title for more information.  About half way down on the next page you'll find the book's call number and location.  

Locations:

• General Collection = 2nd Floor.
• Refrence = 1st floor by the computers.
• Reserves = At the Circulation desk (only available to students and faculty)
• Leisure = 1st floor in the Reading Room (by the fireplace)
• Ukiah = at our Ukiah campus, only availabel to Ukiah students and faculty

To locate the book on the shelf, look for the call number. You can think of a call number as a book's address on the shelf. The first line in a Library of Congress call number classifies the item by its subject according to the LC Classification System. The entire call number should be noted in order to locate the item.

• LC call numbers are first arranged alphabetically, according to the letter or letters at the beginning of the call number, which correspond to the subject matter of the item. 
  Example: Call numbers beginning with P are followed by PA, PB, PC, etc.
• Within the alphabetical section, books are arranged by the number(s) that follow. Notice that these numbers are regarded as whole numbers. For instance, PS 1200 comes after PS 345. 
  Example: QA 56 before QA 234 before QA 234.57 before QA 234.8
• The next lines are alphabetic, then numeric as a decimal. The numerical part of this section is a decimal number, not a whole number. Use alphabetical order first, then the decimal extension to put the call numbers in correct sequence. (A3113 would come before A4, because 0.3113 is smaller than 0.4.) 
  Example: HV 1431 .B7 before HV 1431 .B83 before HV 1431 .F25 before HV 1431 .F7