Olin Library Research Guides: Philosophy: Find Books

Call Numbers

Specific call numbers for books are found in the online catalog, but when browsing the shelves, it helps to know something about them. Books about history can be found shelved in the library under the following Library of Congress call numbers:

B	Philosophy (General)
BC	Logic
BD	Speculative philosophy
BF	Psychology
BH	Aesthetics
BJ	Ethics
BL	Religion. Myth. Rationalism
BM	Judaism
BP	Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy
BQ	Buddhism
BR	Christianity
BS	The Bible
BT	Doctrinal Theology
BV	Practical Theology
BX	Christian Denominations

The broad topics indicated by the first letter of the "call number" are often broken down into subtopics with a second letter, and are then refined in much greater detail with the addition of numbers. A full listing of Library of Congress call numbers can be found here: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/

The digits in these call numbers are read as counting numbers, not as decimals as in the Dewey Decimal system. This means that DL 1175 is found between DL 1174 and DL 1179, well after DL 117 or DL 118.

This arrangement of books by subject matter makes shelf-browsing convenient. If you find a useful book, the books nearby on the shelf are likely to be closely related in topic.

What are these sources?

Materials in the library's collection - including articles, books, e-books, DVDs, and many other formats - can be located through the Find Anything search box on the library homepage.