HOW TO FIND BOOKS

Using the Catalog to Locate Books
Finding Resources on the Shelves
Understanding the Dewey Decimal System
Locating Videos, Sound Recordings and Other Media

You can borrow books from one of Shorter's four libraries, from another library with which Shorter has a cooperative borrowing agreement, or through interlibrary loan. The libraries also maintain a collection of electronic books known as netLibrary. Books listed in the catalog but located at another branch may be obtained through intercampus loan. Books located at other academic or public libraries are lent through interlibrary loan. To identify the holdings of other libraries, see the section below on using Galileo to find books.

Using the Catalog to Locate Books

Go to the Shorter Library catalog at http://library.shorter.edu:8080/#bookriver. You should see a screen like the one below.

Click on Browse the Catalog. This will bring you to the browse search screen, as shown below.

In the “Browse” scroll box, click the drop-down arrow and highlight the field you wish to search. It is most efficient to search for a book using its title, author(s), or subject heading(s). The default search is for titles.

Enter your search term in the search box.

Highlight your location if you wish to limit your search to a particular branch. 

Click the Search button or press Enter. A list of search results, or “hits,” will appear on your screen. Browse searches, as described above, take you to alphabetical lists of titles, authors, or subjects (depending on which field you specify) that begin with the term you entered. A title search for "Deming" would generate a list that looks like the following:

Click a highlighted title to be taken to a record for that particular book (see Finding Resources on the Shelves below for an example of a book record).

A browse search for an author’s name leads you to an alphabetical list of all authors in the catalog, beginning with the name you entered. Enter the author’s last name first. "Deming" searched as an author would bring up the following list:

Click a highlighted author entry to be taken to a list of books written by that author.

A browse search for a subject pulls up a list of subject headings that begin with the term you entered. Enter the exact subject heading if you know it. A subject search for "Deming" would result in a list that looks like this:

Click a highlighted subject heading to be taken to a list of books on that subject.

Remember that titles, author names, and subject headings are precise terms. If you enter a term that is not used in the catalog, it is likely that you will be taken to a “see” reference, which will redirect you to the used term. 

The used term is hyperlinked; click on it to see the records associated with it. 

Finding Resources on the Shelves

Find a record that describes the title of a book, as shown below. You can do this directly by searching for the title, or indirectly by searching for an author or subject and clicking on the author or subject entry. You should then see a list of titles matching that author or subject.

Find the book's location information on the right side of the page. It will give a geographic campus location such as Rome (main campus library), followed by a call number, a number which is assigned according to the item's subject and which provides the order for materials to be placed on library shelves. 

Most items available for checkout are located in the Rome campus library, which has three floors. The ground floor contains the 300s, 500s, 600s, and 900s. Periodicals, indexes and reference materials (call numbers for reference books are preceded by an "R") are shelved on the main floor. The second floor houses the 000s, 100s, 200s, 400s, 700s, 800s, Fiction (preceded by an "F" then shelved by author's last name) and Juvenile (fiction preceded by a "J" then shelved by author's last name; nonfiction preceded by a "J" and shelved by subject call number). 

Understanding the Dewey Decimal System

Shorter College Library shelves its materials using Dewey Decimal System call numbers to arrange library materials by subject. This means that once you have a call number, it is possible to browse nearby shelves for additional items on the same subject. The general breakdown for the Dewey Decimal System is:

000s - Generalities (computing, etc.)
100s - Philosophy and related disciplines (including Psychology)
200s - Religion
300s - Social Sciences (Economics, Law, Education, etc.)
400s - Language
500s - Pure Sciences (including Mathematics)
600s - Technology (Medical Sciences, Agriculture, Business, Management, etc.)
700s - The Arts (including Recreation and Performing Arts)
800s - Literature
900s - Geography, History

A typical call number looks like this: 572.023 F88m

Look at the following numbers:

572 N84t
572.7 H43e
572.023 F88m
572.9914 D77
572.08 F9lr
572.9914 W69

Books are shelved numerically by the first line of the call number. Remember that the number following the decimal point is treated as a decimal number. For example, 572.08 is smaller than 572.7, so the smaller number is shelved first.

The second line of the call number begins with a letter so numbers with the same decimal number are then shelved alphabetically by the second line. For example, 572.9914 D77 will precede 572.9914 W69 on the shelf since F precedes W in the alphabet.

The correct arrangement in ascending order is:

572 N84t
572.023 F88m
572.08 F9lr
572.7 H43e
572.9914 D77
572.9914 W69

Locating Videos, Sound Recordings and Other Media

To find media other than books using the online catalog, go to the "Refine Your Search" screen and click the button near the top of the screen. When you reach the "Limit" screen, place a check mark in the box next to the drop-down menu labeled "Collection" by clicking it, then highlight the collection to which you wish to limit your search in the scroll-down box to the right. 

Then click the "Set Limits" button. This will return you to the search screen. You'll know that limiting is enabled because you'll see a button that says in place of "Set Limits." Now search for your item just as you would search for a book. You can use this method to find CDs, videotapes, scores, and more. 

Videotapes and compact discs located in the Rome campus library are shelved behind the main desk and are arranged by accession number, which is assigned according to the order in which items are received by the library. Since these items are shelved by this number instead of a call number, you must provide this number to the librarian so that he or she may locate the media item and retrieve it for you. The accession number will appear in the "Location" field of a CD or videotape record in the online catalog. 

In addition to searching for videos using the online catalog, you may want to check the printed subject guide to videos available at the circulation desk of the Rome campus library. Neither videos nor compact discs circulate, but the Rome campus library has both viewing and listening facilities.