Library: Locating Books

A typical search result in Minerva looks like this:

(for moblie devices this looks best in landscape format)

To locate the book on a shelf in our library you will need to note two things: the location of the item and its call number. The location tells you which area of the library to look in and the call number tells you where it is located on a shelf in that area.

All items have a shelf location listed in the Minerva search result. Here is a list of the most common:

WCCC Calais Stacks - most books will be found here (all gray shelves in map below).

WCCC Calais DVD - CDs, DVDs, and VHS tapes are located in the Videos section.

WCCC Calais Oversize - large or oversized items are shelved in the Oversize section.

WCCC Calais Reference - books located in the reference section. To use in the library only.

WCCC Calais Reserve - books your instructor has put on reserve located behind the circulation desk. Ask your librarian.

WCCC Maine Collection - books specifically about Maine or by local authors.

The WCCC Library uses the Library of Congress Classification system to arrange books on the shelves so that books on the same topic are shelved together. Each book has a unique call number that begins with one, two, or three capital letters followed by numbers.

In this case the first two letters of the call number are GV. The signs on the ends of the book shelves refer to these numbers. GV would be in the E-HD range.

Once you find the row the book is shelved in, read the call number line by line, top to bottom. Call numbers in Minerva are displayed horizontally, but they are printed vertically on the spine of the books or videos.

 Location prefixes and special shelf locations:

Some call numbers are preceded by a location prefix indicating that the item is shelved in a specific location and may have loan restrictions. For example:

Ref - Reference item located on the Reference shelves (refer to Shelf Locations map).