Research Help: Navigating the Library

The Library's website is easy to navigate and is your gateway to ALL of our resources. Find resources, chat with a librarian, locate a research guide by subject area, or get citation help--all in one place! 

Reminder: some of our resources require that you enter your username and password when accessing them from off-campus. Contact the Help Desk if you need assistance with your username or password.

Holy Family Library uses the Library of Congress call number system. But materials in the library are also grouped together in other ways. This is how items are organized:

• Course Reserves ("On Reserve")--Held at the Circulation Desk. These are books or other materials that instructors set aside for specific courses.
• Leisure DVDs--Main floor of the library. Collection includes popular movies.
• DVDs - Selected educational DVDs are shelved by subject call number.
• Current Periodicals--Main floor of the library. The small collection includes the most recent issues of print periodicals such as newspapers, magazines, and selected journals. Periodicals do not circulate. You can access current journals and articles through the library's online databases. 
• Print Collection--Also known as the "stacks;" is split between the lower level and the main level of the library. There is a "Leisure Reading" Collection now also located on the main floor. All books in the Print Collection can be "checked-out" or borrowed from the Library.
• Curriculum Materials--No longer located in the Library! This special collection now is more accessible to Education majors in the ETC building near the Education classrooms. Here you will find children's fiction and non-fiction all still searchable with the Library Catalog.

Books in the library are arranged by subject using the Library of Congress system (LC). In LC, major subject areas are represented by letters of the alphabet. Numbers are added to the letter(s) to further narrow the item's classification. This combination creates a unique identifier for each item in the library (its call number). Books are labeled with call numbers on their spines so they can be located easily. Books on the same topic are organized near each other on the library shelves.

Example: How a call number is developed for a book about autism: Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism (Roy Grinker, 2007)

Library of Congress: R-->Medicine; RC-->Internal Medicine; RC512-569 range-->Mental Illness; RC553 A88 G75 2007=unique LC call number for this book

You do not need to know these individual fields to find books in the library. Just be aware that when you search the library catalog, you should see a pattern in the call numbers of the results on your list--if they vary widely, representing many different subject areas, you may have to refine your search. Since call numbers are determined by the subject, books with similar topics are typically shelved together. 

Search the library catalog