Library DIY

There are two pieces of information that will help you locate a physical book: the location, and the call number.

LOCATIONS

• First floor items ​
  • NW Owens Popular A-F 
    • Popular A
      • BIO ​- Biography/Autobiography
      • GRA - Graphic Novels
    • Popular B
      • ​Popular non-fiction organized by Dewey Decimal 
    • Popular C
      • Popular fiction organized by Dewey Decimal
    • Popular F
      • The DVD and CD collection organized by Dewey Decimal

  • The Dewey Decimal System cycles through within each of these categories. For example, in Popular A, the order of the books will be BIO 000-999.

  • NW Owens New Books (nearest front doors)
  • NW Owens Reserve - Library Services Desk
     
• Third floor items
  • NW Owens Main 
  • NW Owens Juvenile 
  • NW Owens Juvenile Easy 
  • NW Owens Curriculum Materials 
  • NW Owens Quarto (up to 13" tall) 
  • NW Owens Folio (more than 13" tall) 
  • NW Owens Music Scores 

CALL NUMBERS

At B.D. Owens Library, we use the Dewey Decimal System, so books are sorted numerically from 000 to 999 and alphabetically from A to Z.

There are 10 main Dewey Decimal call number classifications or classes:

• 000—Computer Science, Information, & General Works   
• 100—Philosophy & Psychology   
• 200—Religion   
• 300—Social Sciences   
• 400—Language
• 500—Science
• 600—Technology
• 700—Arts & Recreation
• 800—Literature
• 900—History & Geography

The LOCATION describes where the item is shelved. In this example, the book Programming in Objective-C is located in the main collection on the 3rd floor. The call number tells us that the book is in the 005 area. Use the call number ranges located at the ends of each row to find numbers beginning with 005.

To find 005.117 K76p on the shelf:

• Read the .117 in decimal order. This means that 005.117 will be somewhere in between 005.1 and 005.2.
• Next, read the K76p in alphabetical order first and then by numerical order. The lower case letter is also then read in alphabetical order.
• The last four digits of the example in the photograph identifies when the book was published.