LSC 150, session 3, part 1

Items on the Library Shelves

How they get where they are: Method or Madness??

Locating Items in the CCSU Library (and other college libraries)

We need a system to find items. To help the process, librarians catalog information.

Cataloging refers to identifying items in an orderly and logical manner so people can easily locate them.

Subject Classification Remember subject headings* and descriptors (last

week’s class)?

In an effort to impose order on people’s IDEAS, librarians developed several similar systems of CLASSIFICATION.

CLASSIFICATION refers to keeping library items together on the shelves based on the topics covered by the items.

CLASSIFICATION is based on the *SUBJECT CONTENT of the items.

Two classification systems are preferred:

Dewey Decimal system– subjects are represented by numerals

– Example: 927.1 Library of Congress Classification System

– subjects are “Alphanumeric”– possibilities for more expansion

– Example BL123 .N46 1990 Most universities use the “LC” System Public libraries use “Dewey”

You’d expect items on similar subjects to be found near each other, wouldn’t you? For example

Books on the American Revolution should be shelved near each other

Books on job interviewing should be shelved near each other

Books on art history should be shelved neared each other

Each library item that is cataloged has a “Call Number.”

The first part of the “Call Number” refers to an item’s subject content. This part of the “Call Number” is known as the “Classification number”

HF5382.7 A32 1992Classification number

Each library item that is cataloged has a “Call Number.”

For example:Here is the call number

for a book entitled

Getting Hired When Times are Tough

HF5383 C67 1987

H is for Social Sciences

HF is Commerce (business)

HF5000 etc.

is Vocational Guidance

HF5383C671987

TITLE The complete resume & job search book for college students / by Bob Adams with Laura Morin.SUBJECT Job hunting.

Employment interviewing. Applications for positions. CCSU Stack Level 4 HF5382.7 A32 1992

CONSIDER THE SUBJECTS AND CALL NUMBERS OF THESE THREE BOOKS:

TITLE Your first interview : everything you need to know to "ace" the interview process and get your first job / by Ron Fry.SUBJECT Employment interviewing. Job hunting.CCSU Stack Level 4 HF5549.5 I6 F79 1991

TITLE The work book : getting the job you want / by J. Michael FarrSUBJECT Job hunting. Vocational guidance.CCSU Stack Level 4 HF5383 F37 2004

Notice that theSUBJECTS arerelated and theITEMS are shelvednear each other inCALL NUMBERorder.

This helps youBROWSE

This, fortunately, follows for all subject areas

TITLE A history of Florida / by Charlton W. Tebeau.SUBJECT Florida --History.CCSU Stack Level 3 F311 T42

TITLE Missions of old Texas /by Walter BaroneSUBJECT Alamo (San Antonio, Tex.) --Siege, 1836.CCSU Stack Level 3 F389 B95 1971

TITLE The Alamo remembered : Tejano accounts and perspectives / by Timothy M. Matovina.

SUBJECT Alamo (San Antonio, Tex.) --Siege, 1836.CCSU Stack Level 3 F390 M485 1995

TITLE Castro's colony : empresario development in Texas, 1842-1865 / by Bobby Weaver

SUBJECT Texas --History --Republic, 1836-1846 CCSU Stack Level 3 F390 W37 1985

What does the rest of the“CALL NUMBER” signify?

The next set of letter(s) and numbers following the Classification Number is called the “Cutter” number and is based on the author’s name. Following that is (sometimes) the date and copy number.

BF301 U56 1991 c4

The Cutter number, in this case U56, usually stands for the author’s last name 1991 is the publication date

c4 is the copy number

Cutter Number

What does the rest of the“CALL NUMBER” signify?

The next set of letter(s) and numbers following the Classification Number is called the “Cutter” number and is based on the author’s name. Following that is (sometimes) the date and copy number.

BF301 U56 1991 c4

The Cutter number, in this case U56, usually stands for the author’s last name.Important: the Cutter Number is always read as a decimal number. So U56 is really .U561991 is the publication date

c4 is the copy number

Cutter Number

The order of books on the shelves in the “STACKS”

1) Basic alphabetical order

The order of books on the shelves in the “STACKS”

2) within a single letter, orclassification, such as "H", alphabetical order is still used. "H" comes before "HA”, which comes before “HD", which comes before "HL", etc.

The order of books on the shelves in the “STACKS”

3) When books have the same first line in a call number, they are shelved in numerical order, looking at the second line.

The order of books on the shelves in the “STACKS”

4) If the first two lines of a call number are the same, books are shelved by the third line of the call number, which is a decimal arrangement – even if the decimal sign is omitted!

PS3571 P39

NB 170

741.59493

PR 7 .R79835

PN1997

PS 3571 P4 1977

PS3571 P39NB 170

741.59493

PR 7 .R79835

PN 1997

DEWEY

(Drawings, cartoons,Graphic novels)

PS 3571 P4 1977

NOTE! P39 is read as .P39 and isshelved before P4, which is readas .P4

If library items are shelved by subject --

Where do the

subject headings

come from?

The Subject Headings are actually devised by the Library of Congress. There are over 250,000 LCSH

The subjects are governed by a “controlled vocabulary” thesaurus. So although we might call a subject by a popular phrase, the actual subject heading could be quite different.

LCSH = Library of Congress Subject Headings

For example, we might be thinking of a topic and calling it

“GUN CONTROL,”

but the LCSH calls the same topic “FIREARMS--LAW AND LEGISLATION.”

When we are searching for items by subject, we need to know the correct LCSH heading.

Library of Congress Subject Headings are listed in five volumes and you’ll find them in the Reference Dept. (3rd Floor) and the Circulation Dept. (2nd Floor) at the CCSU Elihu Burritt Library.

Most academic libraries have them readily available at places where you would need them.

Here is a sample entry from the LCSH (taken from one of the five “red volumes”)Imprisonment (May Subd Geog)

UF ConfinementIncarceration

BT CorrectionsRT PrisonsSA subdivision Imprisonment under names of individual personsNT Arrest

Debt, Imprisonment forFalse Imprisonment

Imprisonment FalseUSE False Imprisonment

Imprisonment (May Subd Geog)

UF Confinement

Incarceration

BT Corrections

RT Prisons

SA subdivision Imprisonment under names of individual persons

NT Arrest

Debt, Imprisonment for

False Imprisonment

Imprisonment False

USE False Imprisonment

In this example, note that UF means “use Imprisonment instead of Confinement or Incarceration.”

A term that is broader (BT) than Imprisonment is Corrections --

and it is a LCSH. Prisons is a good term too; it is related (RT) to Imprisonment.

SA means “See Also” and suggests other possible ways to deal with the topic.

NT is “Narrower Term.”

Important note: If you DO NOT know the correct LCSH,

it is a good practice to begin your online catalog search by performing a KEYWORD SEARCH

This will lead you to the correct LCSH, which you may choose to search on to find additional relevant items.

Still, it is important to understand the LCSHs.

Library Catalogs You Might Use CONSULS – SCSU, ECSU, WCSU, CCSU,

Connecticut State Library in Hartford, CT

reQuest -- reQuest is the Statewide Library Catalog of Connecticut. In reQuest, you can search over three million individual titles located in over two hundred Connecticut libraries at once.

WorldCat --Over 41,000,000 “records” Dates covered: before 1000 BC to present, Scope: books, manuscripts, computer data files, maps, computer programs, musical scores …

Example: Here is the resultof a KEYWORD search for the topic ofreparations and slaverynotice that 9 items were retrieved

Our KEYWORD SEARCHHas lead us to a relevantitem.We now can look at whatLCSHs the Library of Congress hasused to describe this item, and we may “click” on listed headings to findmore items on the topic.

Searching Basics:“It’s all in how you say it”

LSC 150

Session 3, part 2

Successfully Searching Databases

Requires skill in formulating search strategies

Various approaches

Assignment: find information on the “effect of a person’s ethnic background on their ability to achieve in school”

Natural language approach

ethnic background effects on achievement in school

Boolean approach

ethnic background AND achievement AND school

(This is called a “search strategy”)

and there are other ways to say that:

ethnicity and achievement and school

Or

ethnicity and scholastic achievement

Or

ethnicity and educational achievement

These are alternative “search strategies”

Sometimes it is advantageous to use several strategies.

use a search strategy so powerful that you could do all that in one search

ethnic background or ethnicity

And

school or scholastic or educational

And

achievement or success or attainment

Successful searching involves

Choosing the “right words” Correct spelling Knowledge of the “operators”

– Special words to connect (combine) search terms

• AND• OR• NOT

the “AND” operator (narrows)

Aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaa aa

ethnic background AND achievement AND school

achievement

school

ethnicback-ground

the “OR” operator (broadens)

Aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaa aa

ethnic background OR ethnicity AND achievement

achievement

ethnicity

ethnicback-ground

aaaaAaaaaaaaaaa

aaaaAaaaaaaaaaa

the “NOT” operator (excludes)

Aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaa aa

police AND dogs NOT dobermans

dobermans

dogspolice

The topic “Legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes”may be broken down into:legalize AND marijuana AND medicinal

(Perhaps you can pose this query differently and find more information)

That is, perhaps you can formulate alternative “search strategies”

Strategy #1 – Generate other terms legalize OR law OR legislate

marijuana OR marihuana OR cannabis

medicinal OR medical OR illness OR disease OR sickness OR AIDS

Strategy #2 – Employ special characters if possible (truncation)legal* OR law OR legislat*

marijuana OR marihuana OR cannabis

medic* OR illness* OR disease* OR sickness* OR AIDS

Put it all together

(legal* OR law OR legislat*)

AND(marijuana OR marihuana OR cannabis)

AND

(medic* OR illness* OR disease* OR sickness* OR AIDS)

Put it all together

(legal* OR law OR legislat*)

AND(marijuana OR marihuana OR cannabis)

AND

(medic* OR illness* OR disease* OR sickness* OR AIDS)

Truncation/wildcard symbols

Boolean / logical operators

Spelling variations/ ”synonymous” or alternative terms

Search strategy worksheetEthics of physician assisted suicide

Concept A Concept B

Euthanasia ethic*OR OR

Physician-assisted AND bioethic*suicideOR OR

Mercy killing moral*

What other assistance is available to the database user?

Most databases offer some kind of “HELP” to the user; but it’s up to the user to find, read, understand, and use the “HELP” that is offered.

FAQ