Union's Library uses the Library of Congress Classification System to organize books on the 2nd floor (our main collection, reference collection, recreational reading collection, faculty development collection, etc.). We use Dewey Decimal Classification in our Family Room with the Juvenile Collection. You may be more familiar with the way books are organized in the Family Room because you school libraries and public libraries are generally organized this way.
After finding a book in the catalog, you will want to write down or take a picture of the location.
1. Books in the Family Room are in the Juvenile Collection and have Juv as the first line of the spine label (sticker on the book spine or front cover).
2. Books that have an E as the second line will be along the wall closest to the right side of the door when walking in. The third line will have a decimal point followed by a letter, numbers, and another letter. You will search the shelves alphabetically and then numerically. So, E .G256 will come before E. H45.
3. Fiction novels have an F on the second line and are closest to the door on the left-hand side when walking in.
4. Nonfiction books are in the back corner. These books' spine labels include numbers. You will locate your book numerically.
1. First using the location from the catalog, find the collection (main campus book stacks, reference, recreational reading, etc.). Then go to that location on the 2nd floor. The Reference Collection is located on the mobile shelving above Modero. The Recreational Reading Collection is on the south-side of the building facing the Bell Tower. The Main Campus Book Stacks encompass the majority of the second floor.
2. The books on the second floor are organized by subject matter, so books on similar topics will be located near each other. After finding a book from the catalog, you may also want to look at the books surrounding it for additional resources.
3. On the first line you will find one to two letters, you will want to find these alphabetically. The labels at the end of the shelves can help you find which shelves to search. These letters indicate the general subject of the book.
4. The next line is numbers that are read as whole numbers and ordered numerically. These numbers provide further information about the books' topic.
5. The next line starts with a decimal point then a letter and numbers. Again read these alphabetically and numerically. This combination of letters and numbers tell us about the author's name or title of the book.
6. You may also see other lines that indicate the publication year or volume number.