.: Assignment Assistant :.

How to Find a Book on the Shelf

Challenge:

Find a book on the shelf.

Solution:

Your primary resource is the SearchPath research tutorial's page on understanding call numbers.

The books in the UGLi are organized with the Library of Congress (LC) call number system. The books in the Graduate library use a mixture of LC call numbers and the Dewey Decimal System. To find a book on the shelves, you need to know its call number.

You can look up call numbers using Mirlyn, the UM online catalog. You can get help using Mirlyn from any librarian or with the Mirlyn module in our online research tutorial, Searchpath. Click on the title of the book you want, and then click on "What Libraries Have" to make sure that the book you are looking for isn't checked out.

If your book is in the Graduate Library, get a Graduate Library stacks map from the reference desk to help you find your book.

In the UGLi, you can tell what floor a book is on based on the first letter of the LC call number:

Each bookshelf has a white sign sticking out of the top on each end. These signs tell you the range of call numbers on each shelf. The front and back of each sign is different, because each bookshelf has two sides.

To find a specific book, you need to switch back and forth between alphabetic and numeric order.

For example, if your call number is PS3555 .U45 M5 2002, your book is on the first floor. The first shelf you get to will have books starting with call number P 1. Keep walking past the shelves with PA, PB, etc. until you reach PS. Within the PS books, there are numbers from 1 to 9999.99. Look for the PS shelf with the number range that includes 3555. Next, as you look at the books on the shelves, switch back to an alphabetic search for U, a numeric search for 45, and so on until you reach the exact book for which you are looking.

If your book isn't exactly in the right place, look a bit to the left and the right of the correct position, and scan in case the book was misshelved.

Resources:

• MIRLYN, the UM Library Catalog
  You can find call numbers for books in most of the University libraries.
  

• Searchpath module on Mirlyn
  Good for brushing up on your Mirlyn know-how.

• Library Maps
  A set of floor-by-floor maps of the University Libraries.

• LC Call Number system
  A downloadable document with a detailed description of LC call numbering.
  

• LC Subjects by Call Number
  A chart of which subjects are cataloged under each starting letter.
  

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