Reference Services

Richardson Library has over 500,000 print books on site and over 1 million digital-books online. 

This guide will help you:

• Search for print books in the library (video)
• Interpret library catalog records to find books
• Interpret call numbers
• Find e-Books 
• Understand the libraries borrowing periods 

Look at the LOCATION field in the catalogue record.  In the example below, the location fields indicate that there are two copies:  one in the Davis Room and another in the Stacks.  Books in the Davis room can not be checked out, because it is the university's archive.  The Book in the stacks collection can be checked out so you would go to the third floor and find the call number to locate the book.  

Location and borrowing periods are show below.  Click on a link to open a library floor plan.

Circulating Collections:

•  Stacks,  Third Floor - 4 weeks
•  Juvenile, Third Floor 4 weeks
•  Transportation, Third Floor 4 weeks
•  Oversized, Third Floor 4 weeks
•  Folio First, Floor - 4 weeks
•  Government Documents.  First Floor - 4 weeks
•  New Book Room, First Floor - 2 weeks.

Non-Circulating Books [Can not be borrowed]

• Davis Special Collections, Third Floor
• Reference, First Floor

Finding a book using the call numbers is pretty straightforward.  The call number is made up of letters and numbers and books are shelved alphabetically by the first letter or letters in the call number:

• Example:

               Q 141. C23

              QA 234 .G67

              QD 34 . F45

After the first letters is a number which is read as a simple whole number:

• Example:

               Q 24. C23

              Q 54 .G67

              Q 134 . F45

The second part of the call number is another letter shelved alphabetically, but the number after is read as a a decimal:

• Example:

               Q 141. C235

              Q 141 .C3

              Q 141 . C499999

              Q 141 . C5

Q 141 . C499999 comes before Q 141 . C5 because both '499999' and '5' are treated as decimals.