LibAnswers

Call numbers provide an addressing system to locate books on shelves.  Think of your street address, which contains a number, street name, city, state and zip code.  Call numbers are the same, but take you from a broad collection to a specific point.

Mott Library Mt 2nd Floor  LB1576.B547 2018  (example of online catalog display)

Write down the call number like this, one line at time. 

LB
1576
.B547
2018

When you go to the shelves to locate the book, focus on one line at time. Find the LB section first and ignore the numbers for now.  Once you find the LB section, then look for 1576 (one thousand five hundred seventy-six).  Now that you have the specific section, LB 1576, focus on the third line, looking for the B letter, and then the .B5, and then .B547.  If you see .B9 you have passed the book.  These numbers are fractions (less than one) so .B9 is a larger number than .B547.

Now that you have the book in hand that you want, take a look at the other titles on both sides to see if there is something else of interest for you.  See our attached "Just Browsing" handout for additional exploration.