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Empower - Module 4 - Website Overview and Library Catalog

Locating Books in the Library

Finding Books in the Library

Screenshot indicating where to locate the Location and Call Number from a Catalog's full record. Information is enlarged in a lower second image.

 

You Must Find:

  • Location:
    • Nebraska State College
      • Look for PSC
    • Collection and Building Level
  • Call Number:
    • "Address" of an item's location

Call Numbers

 

  • Given to all physical items in all libraries
  • Organize physical items into subjects
  • Pinpoint physical items' locations

 

PSC Library Call Numbers are Located on:

Bottom of an item's spine

● OR ●

Top right corner of an item's cover

 

Important:

EMPOWER does NOT explain the Dewey Decimal System.

 

You may be familiar with the Dewey Decimal System from popular culture, K-12 school libraries, or public libraries. 

The PSC Library only organizes its Curriculum and Children/Juvenile Collections with the Dewey Decimal System.

All other collections are organized with the Library of Congress Classification System.

 

Library of Congress (LC) Call Numbers

  • Include 3-5 components
  • Read from:
    • Top to Bottom - on a Book
    • Left to Right - in the Catalog
  • Indicate broadest location first
    • Subsequent lines are increasingly specific

Don't Worry!

If you cannot find a book, the Library staff is happy to help you find it!

The following is a table describing the four written lines of a Library of Congress System Call Number. A screenshot taken of a record in the Peru State College Library Catalog, pictured to the right, is used as an example in this table. Line number one of a Library of Congress call number contains a letter or pair of letters corresponding to a broad subject area. In the example, this line is populated with the letter pair, U A, which corresponds to the subject, Armies. Line number two of a Library of Congress call number contains a number corresponding to a specific subject area. In the example, this line is populated with the number, 11, which corresponds to this specific subject: organization, distribution, military situation. Line number three of a Library of Congress call number contains a Cutter Number. A Cutter Number is a period, letter, and number sequence which corresponds with an item’s more specific details. These details may be the item’s title, an even more specific subject area, or the author’s name. In the example, this line is populated with the Cutter Number, . P 6 3, which corresponds to the author’s last name, Prescott. Line number four of a Library of Congress call number contains either another Cutter Number or the item’s publication year. In the example, this line is populated with, 2019, the book’s publication year. Finally, if line number five of a Library Congress call number is present, it contains the item’s publication year. The example pictured does not include a fifth line.

PSC Books are Arranged by Subject

so browsing the shelves may be quicker than searching the Catalog.

 

  • Find one promising book on the shelf.
  • Browse the surrounding shelves to find related books without additional Catalog searches.
Peru State College Library
600 Hoyt Street | Peru, NE | (402) 872-2311