L
IBRARIES WITH MORE THAN JUST A
few books must have them arranged in a very specific manner. They cannot be placed in random order since no one could find anything, but the main purpose of the arrangement is to be able to find a specific item that someone wants. Perhaps if someone has just a few dozen or even a few hundred books, and there are not lots of people using them all the time, someone can just memorize where they all are, but libraries with thousands or millions of books, with many people using them all at once, need far more control. For all of these reasons, there must be a list of the books that are in the library’s collection, plus something in the list that tells people where each book is located. Therefore, there must be a mark on the book that gives the location, and the same mark must be in the list of books. The list of books in a library is called a catalog, and the marking on the book is called a call number. Only in this way can someone know where an item is. This mark on the book must include: • the call number • the location
Call Number THE CALL NUMBER is the actual number that is on the item, and provides the clues to find the item in the library's arrangement. The arrangement may be in the Library of Congress Classification System, or the Dewey Decimal System, but there are literally hundreds of different arrangements, many of them used only in one collection and nowhere else. For an overview of just the most popular classification systems in the world, look at the Wikipedia article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_classification, which cites only 13,
but this omits several other systems, some more widely used than others.
Location Just as important is the LOCATION. Most libraries have their collection broken up into sub-collections. So, there may be a reference collection, a few special subject collections, many items may be in storage. All but the tiniest collections go into more than one room. So, to find a book, it may be in a special area and you need to know this. The catalog is supposed to supply all of this information.
Loan Status Most electronic catalogs now provide the very handy information: • the loan status You may still experience problems even if you are in the correct location, you have the correct call number and you are looking at the correct place on the shelf, but the book is still not there. This occurs all the time since other people can be using the same book. When someone has checked it out, the record in most modern library catalogs will tell you if it is checked out and when it is due back into the library. Therefore, you ALWAYS NEED TO LOOK AT THE CATALOG RECORD. (Remember that you can always place a hold on the book. A hold means that someone else may not check out the book before you do) If the book has not been checked out but is not on the shelf, this means that the book is in the library somewhere, but not where it is supposed to be. Someone else may be reading it at the moment, it may be waiting to be shelved, or it may be shelved in the wrong place. What do you do? Someone may have shelved it in slightly the wrong place. Look around on the shelves where it should be, the books around it, on the shelves immediately above and below. IF IT IS NOT THERE: Look on the tables, and on any special shelves designated for leaving unread books. Some may have taken it into another room, of course. IF YOU STILL CANNOT FIND IT, tell someone at the front desk. We may be able to find it someplace else for you, or we may have to search for the book if it has been seriously mis-shelved. In the meantime, the library
can mark the record as “Unavailable” so that others are not wasting their time looking for the same things.
Help the Library! Don’t let the shelves get like this!
Colantonio. St. Jerome and the Lion (detail) c. 1445 Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
HOW DO I FIND BOOKS AT AUR? See in the Library Wiki: Reading the Catalog Record http://aurlibrary.wetpaint.com/page/Catalog+Help Physical Arrangement http://aurlibrary.wetpaint.com/page/Physical+Arrangement AUR Library Maps http://www.galileo.aur.it/opac-tmpl/npl/en/pages/aurmap.html
From the Library at 28 November 2008