Research Guides: Find Books, Articles, and More: Find Books

The call number tells you the location of a print book (and other physical items) in the library. Image 1 shows where the call number appears when searching through the WorldCat Discovery tool. Image

Books on reserve

Books are arranged by subject which is assigned a number used to locate the item. The benefit of this is that you find books on similar topics in the same area such biology or Spanish language learning materials.Sometimes it's a good idea to just go to the particular section you need and browse the shelves. We use the Dewey Decimal System. See below for a breakdown of different topics, and determine what section you need.

Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) Summaries

000 General Knowledge. Library Stacks Level 1
Computers and the Internet, UFOs and Unexplained Mysteries, Almanacs, Encyclopedias, Libraries, Museums, Newspapers, World Records.
Library Stacks Level 1
100 Psychology and Philosophy. Library Stacks Level 1
Death & Dying, Ethics, Emotions and Feelings, Logic, Making Friends, Optical Illusions, Superstitions.
200 Religions and Mythology. Library Stacks Level 1
Amish, Bible Stories, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Quakers, and other world religions; Greek, Roman, and other myths.
300 Social Sciences and Folklore. Library Stacks Levels 1 and 2
Careers, Customs, Environment, Families, Folktales, Government, Manners, Money, Recycling, Transportation.
400 Languages and Grammar. Library Stacks Level 2
Dictionaries, English grammar, Sign Language, Arabic, Spanish and other languages from around the world.
$Cover Art$ 500 Math and Science. Library Stacks Level 2
Animals, Biology, Chemistry, Dinosaurs, Fish, Fossils, Geology, Insects, Physics, Planets, Plants, Stars, Weather.
600 Medicine and Technology. Library Stacks Level 2
Cookbooks, Engineering, Farming, Health, Human Body, Inventions, Manufacturing, Pets, Nutrition, Robots and Space Science.
700 Arts and Recreation. Library Stacks Levels 2 and 3
Architecture, Crafts, Drawing, Games, Jokes, Movies, Music, Puppets, Songbooks, Sports.
800 Literature. Library Stacks Levels 3 and 4
Children's Literature Anthologies, Plays, Poetry, Shakespeare, Writing Process.
900 Geography and History. Library Stacks Level 4
Ancient World, Biographies, Countries, Native Americans, States, Travel, Wars.

This system helps us keep materials organized in a way that allows you to easily locate them. However, the system is flawed both in its organization and its historical context.

Read the articles below to learn about Melvin Dewey and the Dewey Decimal System.

Down With Dewey
Melvil Dewey is a library icon. So why did librarians remove his name from one of their most prestigious awards?
Bringing Harassment Out of the History Books
Addressing the troubling aspects of Melvil Dewey's legacy

If an item is an eBook, you will see the View eBook button on the items record, usually underneath the book cover image. See image below.