Chapter 2: Searching
2.12 Using Physical Items at Steely
NKU’s Steely Library is an academic library designed to provide a wide range of resources and spaces for students, faculty, and staff. Physical access is not necessary for academic success and there is much support for online learners, but the library does have a physical component. The layout and physical items in the library are intended to promote an environment suitable for research, collaboration, study, and relaxation.
Steely by the Floors
The following describes the library’s layout and key elements on each floor. You can find maps of the floors on the library website.
- First floor: Enter the library here near the campus’ Fine Arts building. This floor includes a small circulation desk where users can check out and return items. This floor also contains computer workstations (with printer access), study desks, and study rooms. A large chunk of the book collection is housed on the first floor, containing books with call numbers that range between the letters P to Z. An additional area on this floor includes Special Collections & University Archives. This department is home to rare and unique research materials that support major research areas of NKU as well as containing historic materials about the Northern Kentucky-Greater Cincinnati region. Because these materials are rare and tend to be fragile, access is more restricted and hours are limited.
- Second floor: The second floor includes the Eva G. Farris Reading Room, study rooms, the makerspace called Stego Studio (which includes a recording studio), more study desks, and classrooms. This floor also houses the second half of the book collection—those with call numbers ranging from A to N. This floor is typically quieter and mainly used for independent study.
- Third floor: The main level is located next to Einstein Bagels with an entrance to the campus plaza. The main circulation desk and research help desk are near the entrance. Here you can check out and return items as well as settle account balances and have in-depth questions answered. Also on this floor are study rooms, study desks, computers, copier/printers, and moveable whiteboards. Popular culture books are on display near the main desk. Users can also connect with textbooks that professors may have put on reserve or made available through the university’s UCAP office for checkout. Other items available at the desk include human skeleton bones and muscle figures available for study in the library.
- Fourth floor: The fourth floor is home to teaching materials for those studying in the Education field. Additionally, users will find study desks, a wellness space, children’s books, and a computer The office for the College of Arts and Sciences is also located on this floor.
- Fifth floor: The fifth floor is reserved for administrative staff.
Finding Books with a Call Number
Each item in the library has a unique call number. Like most academic research libraries in the United States, NKU’s library uses the Library of Congress Classification System to organize its books and journals. The first thing you need to know about this system is that it is alphanumeric, meaning its call numbers are composed of both letters and numbers. Call numbers are made up of at least two sections that encode a book’s subject and other attributes. Because of this, books on the same shelf will be about similar topics.
In library catalogs and library discovery tools like the “All Resources” tab, call numbers typically appear in one long string with spaces in between each section of the call number. When call numbers are printed on the spine of a book, the sections will often be stacked in several short rows.
If you want to find a physical book in the collection, you will need the item’s call number. You can think of the call number as the unique address for each item that helps you pinpoint where that item lives on the shelf. Here are the basic rules for reading a Library of Congress call number:
- Most sections begin with letters and are followed by numbers. Letters in each section are sorted in alphabetical order before the numbers.
- Numbers in the first section are sorted as whole numbers.
- Numbers in later alphanumeric sections are sorted as decimal numbers.
- The final section contains the publication year of the item.
Let’s say you found this book by searching the “All Resources” tab and want to locate it within the library:
After you’ve verified that the book is available and in the general collection, you can use the call number: Z665.2.U6 R83 2016 to find the floor where your book should be. The call numbers are arranged in alphabetical order throughout the library’s floors. As noted above, books with call numbers ranging between P-Z are on the 1st floor. The book example above would be located on the 1st floor of the library because the call number begins with the letter “Z.”
Once you’re on the right floor, the next step is to find your item on the shelf by using the call numbers displayed at the end of each row of shelves. These numbers represent the first and last books in that row.
To figure out if your book is on a particular row of shelves, you first need to know if your book’s call number falls within this range. Usually, reading the first section of your call number will yield this information. You will need to understand this process even if you used the Map it tool, since that won’t show you exactly where your book is located on the shelf.
When reading the call number, start with the letters in the first section. A single letter comes before a two-letter combination starting with that same letter, so S comes before SA when you’re browsing the rows. For example, if a row is labeled with S1204 to SD504, a book with call number SB102 L36 2007 should be in the middle of those shelves, since SB falls between S and SD. In this case, you’ve found the right row and you need to find the book on the shelf.
What if multiple shelves are labeled with call numbers that all start with the same letter or letters? In these cases, you’ll need to compare the numbers in the first section of the call number to determine where among the rows your item should be. Your book’s call number is SB102 L36 2007 and its first section is SB102. In the example above, our rows have the following range: SB21 to SB123. You don’t need to worry about any of the other numbers or letters in the call number yet, just focus on the beginning to find the right row of shelves.
As we mentioned in the previous section, the number in the first segment of a call number is sorted as a whole number. This means that 15 (fifteen) comes before 100 (one hundred). In our example, the book with a call number starting with SB102 (SB one hundred two) should be on the row of shelves with the range SB21 (SB twenty-one) to SB123 (one hundred twenty-three).
Finding your book on the shelf
Now that you’ve found the specific row of shelves your book is on, you can locate your book on the shelf! You’ll need to skim through the call numbers of the books already on the shelf to figure out whether your book’s call number comes before or after them. This is similar to skimming door numbers when trying to locate a friend’s room in the dorms. You want to make sure you’re on the right floor and around the correct numbers to find them.
Tips for skimming books
When comparing call numbers, don’t worry about reading through the entire call number every time. Instead, start at the top, work your way right and down, and look for the first place where the call numbers of the books on the shelf differ from the one you want. Did you pass where your book should be, or is it farther down the shelf?
For example, let’s say you are looking for TL799 P59 S74 2018, and run across items with the following call numbers:
- TK9 K37 1996
- TK531 K56x 1978
- TK5102 R79 2006
- TK5103 B58 2011
TL799 P59 S74 2018 starts with TL, so you don’t need to read the rest of the call number to know that this book is farther down the shelf.
Once you’ve found items that match the first part of your call number, use the second part to locate your item. Similar to the first part, this section starts with a letter or set of letters. These are arranged alphabetically. In most cases, you’ll need to find the other items matching the first letter(s) in the second part before moving to the number that follows.
Unlike in the first part of the call number, the number in the second part should be treated as though it has a decimal point in front of it, although it may not display one. Our item, SB102 L36 2007, would come between SB102 L3 and SB102 L4 because 0.36 is between 0.30 and 0.40. One way to think about the differences between numbers in the first and the second segment of the call number is that the first is a whole number, like a dollar, and the second is a decimal, like cents or change.
The final part of a call number is often a four-digit number with no letter. This represents the year of publication. Not all call numbers include a publication year, but if it is present and all other parts of the call numbers are identical, you can sort the items by putting the publication dates in chronological order. When the library owns more than one edition of a book, the call numbers for each edition will often be identical up to the publication year. Our call number, SB102 L36 2007, does have the year displayed as the last segment, but we don’t have any other editions for you to sort through.
Once you find your book, it often pays to examine the other items shelved nearby. Those items are often about similar topics to the item you were originally seeking, and may be a valuable addition to your research project.
Common problems and how to solve them
- There are multiple rows of shelves that have the same first part as your call number: Do not despair! Compare the next part of the call number to the labels on the rows of shelves to check where your call number fits.
- Your call number is formatted differently from the examples we’ve shown: Some items don’t have typical Library of Congress call numbers. An example is TA1 Am35p. Even though it seems strange, you can still use alphanumeric order to narrow down where it should be on the shelf.
- Your book is not where you think it should be:
- Check the surrounding area on the shelf or behind the books on the bottom shelf (it may have fallen).
- Check the reshelving area on that floor, where books used within the library are placed before being put back on the shelves.
- Verify in “All Resources” that it’s in the General Collection and that it is not checked out.
- You still can’t find your item: Ask for help at the 3rd Floor Public Services desk.