Vassar College Libraries

Home / Research Help / Research Guides / How Do I Find... / Find Books and Other Items

How do I find books at Vassar?
How do I "read" a call number?
What does the "location" mean?
How do I find  books in other libraries? 

How do I find books at Vassar?

• Search the online catalog by author, title, subject, or keyword for books, government documents, journals, videos and other items Vassar owns.
• Try keyword first if you don't know what subject to search for.  Check subject headings at the bottom of the record to find other books on the same subject.
• Identify the book's 
  
  • call number (where is it on the shelf?)
  • location (which room is it in?)
  • status (has it been checked out?)  
• Use the Guide to Locations to find call numbers and rooms.  Print copies are at Reference or Circulation.

How do I "read" a call number?

Vassar uses several call number systems. The ones you will see most frequently are LC Classification and Supt. of Docs. Classification (used for U.S. government docs) 

LC Classification arranges items by subjects. A "call number" usually has 3 parts:

1. Initial letter(s) + whole number = the subject of the book
2. Following letter + decimal number = the author’s name or the book’s title
3. Year of publication
4. Example:
   • Book:  A New History of Jazz
     Author:  Shipton, Alyn
     Call number:  ML 3506.S47 2007
   • ML 3506 = Literature of music-->Popular music-->Jazz
     S47= Author's name:  Shipton
   • 2007 = Year of publication

What does the "location" mean?

• Main:  Thompson Library
  
• Annex:  Off-site storage.  See Requesting Books from the Annex.
• Archive/SpecColl (Grille):  Archives and Special Collections
• Art: Art books are temporarily located in Rm. 97 and Stack II of the Main Library. See Where are the Art Books for details.
• Music: Music Library (Skinner Hall)
• Browsing Collection:  Books of current interest in main hall near Circulation Desk.  
• US Doc:  Government Documents Collection in Stack I.  See Documents Collections.
• Media Cloisters:  2nd floor.  See  Media Cloisters.
• Microfiche, Microtext Room, Microfilm: Microfilm and microfiche collections kept in the Microtext Room on the ground floor. See Microtext.
• Main Reserve: Books and other items on reserve for classes. See Reserves. Art and Music also have reserve collections.

How do I find books in other libraries?

When the books you want are not in Vassar's collections, you may be able to get them through Interlibrary Loan. Set up an ILL account using an ILLiad Request Form.  Search ConnectNY or WorldCat to identify books  and order them through those services.

• ConnectNY:  Consortium of New York State libraries. Use to get books not at Vassar or books which are checked out. Books ordered this way arrive in 2-4 days.
• WorldCat:  Worldwide database of books, videos, etc.  Request books by clicking ILL symbol. Books ordered this way make take several weeks to arrive.