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Hekman Library Catalog

The Hekman Library catalog is used to search the library's print and online holdings; you can search the catalog online through the library homepage.

*Video may be slightly out of date due to renovation construction and website redesign in 2023 - newer content coming soon*

How do you get items that Hekman Library doesn't own? See our page on Requesting Items beyond Hekman.

Locating Items by Call Number

Each book in the library is assigned a call number, a kind of code or unique address which stands for the book's main subject and tells you exactly where to look on the shelf. The call numbers in Hekman Library align with the Library of Congress classification system (more info below). Because the books in the library are arranged by subject, if you can locate one book on a subject, chances are that there will be others on the same subject nearby.

You can look up an item's call number in the Hekman Library online catalog. Once you have a call number, you need to determine on which floor of the library the item will be found.

*Video may be slightly out of date due to renovation construction and website redesign in 2023 - newer content coming soon*

Library of Congress Classification

Most of the materials in the Hekman Library are arranged by subject, according to the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) system. (An exception is the library's Government Documents collection, which is arranged by SUDOC number.)

For example, TP155 .N38 2003 is the LCC call number for the book Beyond the molecular frontier. There are four parts to this call number:

TP

A one or two letter code which stands for the broad subject.

TP covers "chemical technology"
155

A group of numbers which define the subject more specifically.

155 covers "Chemical engineering"
.N38 The Cutter number represents the book's "main entry"-- usually the author or editor's last name, in this case, the "National Research Council."
2003 Other information. This could be the year of the edition, the volume number in a series, and/or a second Cutter number.

Shelving Location: In addition to using the LCC call number, you may also need to note the "Shelving Location" when you are looking for books in Hekman, as some books will be located in our "General Collection" while others may be in one of our Special Collections (for example, Meeter Center or Theological Reference).