Library Skills Series How to Use the Card Catalog

HOW TO USE THE CARD CATALOG The card catalog is the primary index or key to the library’s collection. It will tell you which books, and other non-book materials, are available in the library, and provide the information needed to locate a particular book on the shelves. The card catalog is made up of a series of cards contained in wooden trays. Located on the ground floor near the Reference Desk, the card catalog lists books by the author, title and subject. All author and title cards are filed together in one alphabetic sequence in one section of the card catalog, as in the following example. Hilgard, Ernest R. History of Arab Thought The Holy Land then and now Hope, Anthony Hope is the remedy. Subject cards are also filed in one alphabetic sequence but in a separate section of the card catalog. Subject headings on these cards are typed in capital letters. CHILD PSYCHOLOGY CHILDBIRTH CHILDREN-EMPLOYMENT MATHEMATICS-STUDY AND TEACHING PALESTINE-HISTORY-UPRISING,  1987- PALESTINIAN ARABS Looking for a book when you know the author or title You can look up a specific book in the card catalog under the author’s name, last name first, followed by first and middle name or initials. You can also look under the title, if you know it. The title is typed across the top of the card. “A”, “an” or “the” at the beginning of a title is ignored; therefore, A Tale of Two Cities is filed under Tale of Two Cities. Other special filing rules for numbers, acronyms, foreign names etc., are shown in the following examples: A card beginning with a number is filed as if the number is filed as if the number were spelled out. 1984 by George Orwell is filed under “N” for Nineteen eighty- four. A family name beginning with “Mc” is filed as if spelled “Mac”. Abbreviations of titles, and abbreviations in general are filed as if spelled : St.= Saint, Dr.=Doctor, U.S.A.= United States of America. Looking For a Book by Subject More often than not, you will be looking for books on a particular subject. In this case, it is important to determine, first the proper subject headings under which books on your topic might be listed. Often the words you would use to describe a topic are not the same as the subject headings used in the card catalog. To help choose the appropriate subject terms, use the Library of Congress Subject Headings, located on the Reference Desk near the Card Catalog. These volumes list the standard subject headings and provide cross references from terms that are not used as subject headings and lead you to related terms that maybe closer to your topic. BT= broader term NT= narrower term RT= related term UF= use for Following is an excerpt from the Library of Congress Subject Headings, using these abbreviations. Boldface type indicates that the word or phrase is a standard heading under which books are listed in the card catalog. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HeADINGS Sometimes what not to look under in the catalog is indicated by a "USE" or "See" reference that refers you to the standard heading. e. g. State and higher education        See Higher education and state. Suggested call numbers are also occasionally included. These indicate where most books on this subject are likely to be shelved. INFORMATION ON CATALOG CARDS The same information is contained on each catalog card. It does not matter, therefore, which approach you use - author, title, or subject - to find your book. The title and the subject headings are typed at the top of the cards. It is easy to differentiate between an author/title card and the subject card, because on the subject card you will see the subject heading typed in capital letters. EXAMPLES OF CATALOG CARDS UNDER AUTHOR, TITLE AND SUBJECT.     LOCATING A BOOK ON THE SHELVES Call Numbers Books in the library are given call numbers so that the books can be located on the shelves. All books in the Library of Bethlehem University are classified or given call numbers according to the Library of Congress Classification system. A typical call number might look like this: HF 5821 W5 1985 One or two letters, general subject (economics) Specific subject (advertising) .Letter & number representing author's name. Year of publication. Books are arranged on the shelves by call number in alphabetical and then numerical sequence. Note that the number on the bottom line is a decimal, meaning that LB 15 C265 precedes LB 15 C3. Sometimes the call number is preceded by a designation such as "Ref". This indicates that the book is in the Reference section and that it is for use in the library only; it does not circulate. Other cards may be marked with the stamp "Special Collections". This indicates that the book is located in the Special Collections-Palestiniana Division. To locate the book on the shelves, copy down the entire call number which appears in the upper left corner of the card. Before getting the book from the shelf, look at the Floor Directory (posted near the card catalog) to learn on which floor you will find your book. The floor directory shows the location of the reference and the circulating books on the various floors. Floor Directory           English Books           Ground Floor     Reference A-Z Dissertations Art Books (Big Size)           First Floor     Circulating Books         A-0           Second Floor     Circulating Books         R-Z Bound Periodicals Foreign Language Books            If you are writing a term paper, copy the author's name, the book title, place of publication, publisher and date. You will need this information for your bibliography.   A General Works B-BJ Philosophy, psychology BL-BX Religion c Auxiliary Sciences of History D History: General and Old World E-F History: America G Geography, Anthropology, Recreation H Social Sciences I Political Science K Law L Education M Music. Books on Music N Fine Arts P-PA General Philology and Linguistics Classical Languages and Literatures PB-PH Modern European Languages PG Russian Literature PJ-PM Languages and Literatures of Asia, Africa, Oceania American Indian Languages Artificial Languages PN General Literature PR English PS American PQ French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese PT German, Dutch, Scandinavian PZ Fiction Q Sciences R Medicine S Agriculture T Technology U Military Science V Naval Science Z Bibliography. Library Science   The above chart shows the general Library of Congress subject classes.  A similar, but larger chart is posted on the side of the card catalog.   Attention: Every time you get a tray out of the card catalog, you are expected to return it to its proper place.   This Series is Dedicated To:  Br. Anton de Roeper, FSC Vice Chancellor (1987-1993) For his strong support to the Library as reflected in his statement: "I remain convinced that the frequency of student access to the library facilities is a very good indicator of the quality of intellectual work undertaken  in  the  University. In  the   academic sphere this is my chief preoccupation".   Bethlehem University Library, 2003 All rights reserved