USING THE LIBRARY CATALOG 

In a nutshell, the Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDC) is a method of arranging non-fiction materials by subject. The system groups all subjects into ten main classes. Each class has ten divisions and each division may be broken down further by adding a decimal point and then more numbers. This allows very specific subjects to be shelved together. For example:

973 American History

973.7 Civil War

973.73 Civil War Battles

973.738 Appomattox

Fiction titles are arranged in alphabetical order by the author's last name. To make patrons' favorite types of books easier to find, the libraries shelve certain genres, like mysteries, science fiction, westerns and large print titles, together. These genres are differentiated by letters before the author's name in the call number in the catalog and on the spine label. The abbreviations are as follows:

M = mystery

SF = science fiction

W = western

LP = large print

Similar abbreviations are used in the catalog to let the user know a material's format and/or location:

BKTAPE = booktape

BKCD = book CD

PDA = portable digital audio player

DVD = DVD

VIDEO = videotape

R = reference

SPA = Spanish

GRAPHIC = graphic novel

Any item that is preceded by a capital J can be found in the juvenile section while an item marked YA is located in the young adult or teen area.

The topics in the DDC are arranged into ten main classes:

These ten main classes are each divided into ten divisions and then each division is divided into ten sections.