Finding Books at the University Library

The Library of Congress (LC) classification system is used for the following library collections:

• Circulating Books A - Z
• Maps and Atlases
• Quartos and Folios
• Reference
• Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection (circulating books)

These books are organized by call number, which can be thought of as the address of the book within the Library. After finding a book in OneSearch, it is important to copy the entire letter-number combination in order to find the book on the shelf. Be sure to note the floor number as well as any code reflecting collection areas on the floor such as Reference, Atlases, Curriculum, Juvenile, etc.

See below for help reading a Library of Congress call number. 

Reading a Library of Congress call number:

1. The first part of the call number is a capital letter or combination of capital letters, e.g. AY,E, HF, or PNZ, representing a broad subject area.
2. The second part is a number representing a narrower aspect of the subject. 
3. The third part is a combination of letters and numbers which usually represent the author's last name.
4. There may be a fourth part for volume number. 
5. There may also be a fifth part for the year of publication. 

For more information about subject areas, see the Library of Congress website or this Wikipedia article on Library of Congress Classification. 

Finding the location of a book: