by Adrianna A.

• All books are given a call number.

• The call number is used to find a book’s location in the library

Why are call numbers useful?

call numbers are a little bit

confusing at first, but once you understand them you will be able to find any book you want in any library

Call Numbers

• Call numbers are printed on a book’s spine label

Spine Labels

Think of the spine label as a mailbox & the call number is the house address

Sample Call Numbers

• Nonfiction books are ordered according to their subject. For example, all sports books are shelved together

• Reference books are shelved the same way other nonfiction books are; according to their subject. You can not checkout reference books

796FIS

REF796FIS

Sample Call Numbers

• Fiction (FIC) books are ordered by the author’s last name. For example: all books written by Gordan Korman are on the “K” shelf in alphabetical order in the Fiction section

• Paperback (PB) books that are fiction are ordered the same as fiction books; by the author’s last name.

PBFICKOR

FICKor

Sometimes Fiction, Biographies & nonfiction are shelved

together• Spanish (SP)

• French (FR)

• Graphic Novel (GN) These books look like comic books

SP796FIS

GN796FIS

FR796FIS

GNFICKOR

GNBIO

Valley

FRFICKOR

SPFICKOR

GNBIO

Valley

SPBIO

Valley

Fiction

FICKor

• Fiction books are organized in alphabetic order by the author’s last name

• All fiction book call numbers start with “FIC”

Understanding Fiction call numbers!

FIC

Kor

FIC means Fiction

Go to the Fiction side of the library

Kor These are the 1st three letters of the author’s last name.

Go to the “K” shelf in the fiction section of the library

How do I use a call number to find an book?

• If there is a number in the call number, then it is a

nonfiction book!

Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDC)

• Nonfiction books are organized and shelved using the Dewey Decimal Classification System

Finding Nonfiction Books Using DDC

There are 10 main subjects of the Dewey Decimal

Classification System

0 – 99 General Knowledge 100 – 199 Philosophy & Psychology 200 – 299 Religion 300 – 399 Social Science 400 - 499 Languages 500 – 599 Math & Science 600 – 699 Technology 700 – 799 Art, Music, Sports & Recreation 800 – 899 Literature & Rhetoric 900 – 999 History & Geography

Finding your book

• Each book case is like a street in a neighborhood.

Where to Start Looking

• Does the number on the spine label fall in between these two numbers?

• If it does you are on the right “street”

Nonfiction

• Make sure that you are looking for the number on the spine label

• If there are many books with the same exact number, then look at the match up the letters below it

Bibliography

http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/call_numbers.htmlWhere is the call number? Viewed 10/08