Finding Items

All the books in the Library have been given a shelfrmark number, you can find this number on the books spine. This number is mostly made of up of a number and some letters.

The numbers are part of the Dewey Decimal Classification and we use it for a few reasons

 

The first three numbers refer to the broad subject area, and are shelved in numerical order. For example, 945 is shelved before 946.

These numbers are followed by a decimal point. The numbers after the decimal point show the sub-section of the subject area. Again, they are shelved in numerical order. For example, 945.805 is shelved before 945.81.

The numbers will be followed by three letters, these are useful when there are lots of books on the same subject. They might tell you about the book's author, its title or the level of the subject they are about.

You can see the main subject areas below

Use the subject index to find out which Dewey Decimal number is used for the subject you want to find books for.

 

The more numbers involved in a Dewey Number give more detail on the subject

For instance the book Artist's Drawing Techniques has shelfmark 741.2/ART

This is worked out like this