LESSON 5 CONTENTS:

Learning Objectives

Part One: The Organization of Library Materials

I. Preface to Part One

II. Subject Headings
* Subdivisions
* Types of Subdivisions
* Library of Congress Subject Headings

III. Classification Systems
* The Dewey Decimal Classification System
* The Library of Congress Classification System
* General Principles of Classification Systems

IV. Call Numbers

V. Part One Summary: The Complex Job of Organizing a Library

Part Two: The Online Catalog: Key to the Library’s Collection

VI. Preface to Part Two

VII. The Online Catalog – Key to the Library’s Collection
* The Structure of Online Catalogs
* Searching Online Catalogs
* The Peninsula Library system (PLS) Online Catalog

VIII. Key Points to Remember

Lesson Five Quiz

Lesson Five Exercise

PART ONE: THE ORGANIZATION OF LIBRARY MATERIALS

I. PREFACE TO PART ONE

Lesson 4 emphasized that periodical indexes and library catalogs are the best tools for the in-depth research done at step 5. The lesson will focus on the library catalog. But to use a library catalog effectively, you must understand how libraries organize their materials.

Imagine that you're a bookworm, constantly buying new books. At first, your book collection is small enough that you simply add your new purchases randomly to your bookshelf in no particular order. But by the time it grows to 100 or more books, you decide to organize your collection so that you can find what you need easily, without a lot of wasted effort. You could arrange your books by author, title, color, size, language, hardback vs. paperback, or several other categories. Any of these approaches is perfectly valid for an individual with a relatively small collection, but libraries don’t use any of these approaches. How do libraries - which contain thousands and in some cases millions of books -- arrange their collections?

Libraries organize their collections according to subject matter. This is an enormously complex, on-going project that is based on three organizational tools: subject headings, classification systems, and call numbers. Let's examine each separately.