Finding Books in the Library

Librarians organize books so that they are easy to find. Let me tell you how books are organized in the library. It’s a complex yet fascinating system that takes into account the type of book, its author, and the subject matter.

Librarians use the Dewey Decimal System to organize nonfiction books. The Dewey Decimal System is a number system that groups books by topic and assigns each topic a number. Here are the 10 main classes of the Dewey Decimal System:

·         000 Computer science, information and general works

·         100 Philosophy & psychology

·         200 Religion

·         300 Social sciences

·         400 Language

·         500 Science

·         600 Technology

·         700 Arts & recreation

·         800 Literature

·         900 History & geography

Librarians make labels for books that show the Dewey Decimal Call Number. The label, also known as the spine label, goes on the spine of a book. Look at the label on the spine to find the call number. The spine label shows the Dewey Decimal call number and the first three letters of the author’s last name.

On the other hand, librarians organize fiction books by the author’s last name. The spine label for a fiction book will usually have the letter “F” or the letters “FIC”. If a spine label starts with “F” or “FIC” you will know that it belongs in the Fiction section. Next, the spine label for a fiction book will show the first three letters of the author’s last name. Fiction books by authors with the same last name will be grouped together.

For example, the book "Twin Win" by Les Feely would have the spine label "F Fee". Fiction books by this author are grouped together on the shelf. Books by other authors will go before or after these. It depends on the author’s last name! For instance, "F Cai" would go before "F Fee", while "F Har" would come after.

Let’s put these books in ABC order by author’s last name. The authors' last names start with Lac, Dep, Lev, Wei, and Bri. The correct order would be Bri, Dep, Lac, Lev, and Wei.

In summary, nonfiction books are organized by the Dewey Decimal Call Number, and fiction books are organized by the author’s last name. This system, while might seem complex at first, is actually a very organized and efficient way to find books in the library.