Q. How are the library's books organized?

First, our current collection is divided into several sections - Reference (books that cannot be checked out), Main, Serials, and Audiovisual. The Reference, Serials, and A/V collections are located on the 2nd floor, with Reference and A/V on the east side, and Serials on the west side. The Main collections are on the 3rd floor.

Second, it is important to understand that each of these collections is arranged by subject. Libraries typically choose between 2 "classification systems" - Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress. Dewey Decimal, which assigns each subject a number, is typically used by public libraries and Library of Congress, which assigns each subject a two-letter code, is typically used by academic libraries. Until recently, Drake LRC has used the Dewey Decimal Classification System. However, we recently began a project to switch the whole collection to the Library of Congress (LC) Classification System. In the process, we are going to combine the Main, Black, Juvenile, and International Collections into a single circulating (that means you can check the books out) collection so that there are fewer divisions.

Currently, only the Reference Collection has been fully switched to LC. The rest of the collection will be moving over the next years. To minimize confusion, each row of shelving will have two labels - one showing the Dewey Decimal range, the other showing the LC range to be found on that row.

The subject breakdown of each system is as follows: