Searching for and locating books in the library is a skill that you need to have.  We have two look up stations for students to use in the back of the library.  Students can search for books using Alexandria Researcher. Students may look up books by title, author, subject, all words, series or call number.  Most students will use subject, author and/or title to find the books that they need.  Searching by  All Words will retrieve the most hits, however not all of the books will be relevant to what you are seeking. 

The Researcher screen looks like this:

If you would like to look up a particular author, type the author's last name in the Search for box and click the Author button.  If you would like to look up a particular title, type the title of the book in the Search for  box and click the title button.  If you would like to look up a particular subject, type the subject in the Search for box and click the Subject button.

After you have entered your search term and have clicked the appropriate button, a list of books will appear.  If a list does not appear, double check your spelling and/or modify your search terms. If a list still does not appear, the library may not have the books you are seeking.

Example search:

My assignment is to research a famous playwright/author.  I chose William Shakespeare.  My paper needs to contain biographical information, information on his plays and his influence on other playwrights/authors.  First, I need to find out information on Shakespeare's life.  My search term is Shakespeare.  I am going to use the Subject button since I am looking for books about Shakespeare, and not books written by Shakespeare. 

How do I know if the books listed will help me? Double clicking on the title will give me more information on the book.

Once I find a book that I think will work, I write down the title, author and call number of the book on a piece of paper.  The call number will tell me where I can find the book in the library.  It is like the address of the book.

How are the books organized in the library?

The library collection is divided into 3 major sections: Fiction, Non-Fiction and Reference.

Fiction books (made up stories) are organized alphabetically by the author's last name.  So, if you are looking for J.K. Rowling's books and your standing in front of a Lloyd Alexander book, you will need to move toward the end of the alphabet. 

All of the call numbers in the Fiction section start with FIC or FICTION.  Under the letters are either the first three letters of the author's last name or the author's entire last name.  For example: The call number for Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn may be FIC TWA, FICTION TWA, FIC TWAIN, or FICTION TWAIN.

Non-Fiction books can be trickier for some.  Non-fiction books are mostly true stories.  These are the type of books you will want to use when you are doing research.  Non-fiction books are organized according to the Dewey Decimal System. The Dewey System has ten major categories that all books fit into. The categories are:

000    Generalities
100    Philosophy and Psychology
200    Religion
300    Social Science
400    Language
500    Natural Science  and Mathematics
600    Technology (Applied Sciences)
700    Arts
800    Literature
900    Geography and History

The call numbers for non-fiction books will contain the Dewey classification number and the author's last name (either the first three letters or the entire last name).  The call number for The Dinosaur Book is 568 Colbert. Non-fiction books are arranged on the shelves numerically according to their Dewey number, then by the author's last name. For example:  There are 3 books in our library collection that have the Dewey classification number 568.  These three books are organized on the shelf according to the author's last name.  So the order of the books would look like this:

568 Colbert
568 Fir
568 Ostrom

A book with the call number 567 would come before 568 Colbert, and a book with a call number 569 would come after 568 Ostrom.

If you are looking for a book with the call number 678.08 Smith, and you are staring at books with call numbers in the 300s (324 Warner), you will need to move further down the cases to reach the 600s.  Looking for a call number is like trying to find a house address.  Drive down the cases until you find the  house number...which is the book's call number.

Reference books are non-fiction books that are not allowed to be checked out from the library. The call numbers have a red label covering them, indicating that they are reference books.  Books in the reference section usually include encyclopedias.  The books are also organized by the Dewey Decimal system.