Finding what you need in the Library Introduction to Information Literacy

What is a Library? How books are placed on the shelves? What is a library classification scheme? What are shelf marks? What sources of information can I find in libraries? What is the library catalogue (OPAC)? Some important final points

What is a Library ? (I) A place in which literary and artistic materials, such as books, periodicals, newspapers, pamphlets, prints, records, and tapes, are kept for reading, reference, or lending. A collection of such materials, especially when systematically arranged. A room in a private home for such a collection. An institution or foundation maintaining such a collection.

What is a Library ? (II) A commercial establishment that lends books for a fee. A series or set of books issued by a publisher. A collection of recorded data or tapes arranged for ease of use. A set of things similar to a library in appearance, function, or organization: a library of computer programs.

Definition of an Academic Library An academic library's purpose is to support the teaching and research of a college or university. Most academic libraries are much larger than village public libraries. Generally, non-academic material is not found in an academic library, but at MCAST libraries we do hold some non-academic material, such as fiction books, and films in DVDs and Video format.

MCAST Libraries provide : more than 25,000 books, over 250 journals (30 in electronic format) over 300 CD-ROMs more than 200 Videos & DVD films, a small collection of classical music CDs. and we also offer several services, facilities and activities

Finding what you need This is the 4 th academic year that MCAST Library has been operating and we already have so many library items on the shelves in 6 libraries. Imagine within 10 to 20 years time how many library items we will be having on our shelves. How are you going to find the item or information that you need for your studies?

How are Library Items arranged? How do you find one book amongst 25,000 books placed on any of 1,000 shelves in any of our 6 libraries?

The two main parts of a library are: 1. Fiction books are stories and novels about people and adventures that are not real e.g. Harry Potter books 2. Non-Fiction books are about real people and things like a book about Mother Theresa or a book on Physics or Accounts

Fiction books These are found in a separate fiction section on their own. They are arranged in alphabetical order using the first three letters of the author’s surname

e.g. books by Dickens, Charles (marked DIC) are found before books by Rowling, J K (marked ROW) The spine labels are shown below F DIC F ROW

Supermarkets and Libraries are very similar to each other! rows and rows and shelves and shelves of items that need to be selected carefully before buying or borrowing.

Arrangement of Non-Fiction items As in a Supermarket or Department stores, the 1,000s of items in a Library are arranged according to a classification system. In a Store one finds food items separate from clothes and separate from toiletries Frozen food items are kept separate from cold food items and separate from dry and fresh foods

Classification system in a Library In a library the 1,000s of non fiction books are arranged according to subjects each subject having a number from 001 to 999 Books are placed on shelves according to these numbers starting with 001 moving across from left to right, and up to down to 999.

How subjects are grouped A certain NY Librarian Melvil Dewey in the 19 th century created a library classification (Dewey Decimal Classification - DDC) scheme for all subjects using a numbering system More than 200,000 libraries worldwide in 135 countries count on this scheme to keep their collections organized so that their users can easily locate the resources they need.

What is Dewey Decimal Classification? Melvil Dewey divided, humanity’s, knowledge, ideas, and artistic creations into Ten Main Classes spanning a range from 001 to 999: (Book about hydraulic fluids) 000 Generalities 100 Philosophy & psychology 200 Religion 300 Social Science 400 Language 500 Natural science & mathematics 600 Technology (applied sciences) 700 The arts 800 Literature & rhetoric 900 Geography & history

Each major Class divides into Nine Divisions spanning a range of 10 to 90. For example: 600 Technology 610 Medical sciences Medicine 620 Engineering and allied operations 630 Agriculture 640 Home economics & family living 650 Management & auxiliary services 660 Chemical engineering 670 Manufacturing 680 Manufacture for specific uses 690 Buildings

Each sub-category is further divided into Nine specialized Sections ranging from 1 to 9: 620 Engineering & allied operations 621 Applied physics 622 Mining & related operations 623 Military & nautical engineering 624 Civil engineering 625 Engineering of railroads, roads 626 Not assigned 627 Hydraulic engineering 628 Sanitary & municipal engineering 629 Other branches of engineering

By adding decimals, the specialized topics are broken down even further: 621 Applied physics Hydraulic-power technology Special topics Specific liquids Water Hydraulic fluids

Some Books & Periodicals in MCAST library M M

Finding the number for a subject Specialized Library books (which we Library staff use) are published regularly giving numbers for all subjects especially new ones e.g. computer programs

Some of our Libraries provide charts listing the more important subjects in alphabetical order and their respective numbers Finding the number for a subject

Subjects numbers in our web-page Our library web contain an alphabetical list (in English and Maltese) of 100s of subjects and their respective Classification numbers Use this on-line facility to find the numbers of subjects you need. You will also find most of these numbers printed on the actual shelves and the sides of shelves in the library.

Collections in our Library In a Supermarket the same food item may be stored in very different locations e.g. vegetables –fresh (in low temperature cabinets or plain boxes ) –dried or preserved (on normal shelves) or –frozen (in freezers)

Collections In the same way, in a library, books on the same subject may be shelved in different locations (collections) in the library –Lending section – books may be borrowed –Reference – books that can not be borrowed –Audio-Visual – films (VHS & DVD), CD ROMs, DVD ROMs –Intermediate and Junior

Bookshelf Marks Bookshelf marks help to identify the location of collections of books and other material, e.g. R = Reference. F = Fiction in English FM = Maltese Fiction A-V = Audio-Visual A full list of these can be seen on our web-site

Finding out what the library has How does one find out what the MCAST Libraries have on their 1000 shelves and more? The Answer is the Library Catalogue or OPAC (on-line Public Access Catalogue) found on the Internet at

What is OPAC? Online Public Access catalogue. All modern libraries now a days are making use of the OPAC. The OPAC is the library catalogue that is available on the internet and it can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere. So if you need to know if the library holds the book that you need, if it is available and if not when it will be available, and many other useful Information – go to OPAC.

How can you make use of the MCAST OPAC? On the Internet, go to MCAST Home page, choose, Library, then choose `Search our Catalogue pageSearch our Catalogue

Finding what you need in our Library One can search using the “Search our catalogue” page by keying in a: –Any word/s in the title –Any part of an author’s name or surname –ISBN (unique ID number for most books) –A subject number (class mark DDC – list provided) –A subject heading (list provided)

Finding what you need in our Library One can also search using the “Your course and the library” page also at course and the library –Choose your Institute –Choose your course –Choose your Study Unit –Choose Search by Subject or Search by Class

Locating the Catalogued item Once an item is found on OPAC the following details about the book should be noted (or printed) –Title –Author –Library –Shelf Mark (letters only) –Class (or subject) number if non fiction book –Location –Availability (is it already borrowed?)

If you find the following book Advanced methods of machining by the author McGeough, J.A. You should write on a piece of paper the Class number. In this case The first 3 letters of the Authors Surname. In this case McGrath, MCG.

So this particular book has the following label on its spine: MCG

Other sources of information Do not forget non-book items like Magazines and CD-ROMs Ask your lecturers Go to other Libraries in Malta (check our web-pages) Search the Internet using

We are here to help you. For more information of using your library speak to any of our qualified and trained library staff who will always be pleased to help you