Research Process: 2a. Find Books

To locate print books and other materials located at the campus libraries go to Find Books, https://mgccc.libguides.com/find/books, and select MGCCC Catalog.

Or link directly https://mgccc.booksys.net/opac/mgccc/index.html#menuHome. The card catalog also includes titles in the electronic books collections. Physical books may be borrowed from the campus libraries. Electronic books are accessed from the library website.

The materials in the Denver Campus Library are organized by the Library of Congress (LC) Classification System so that books/videos on similar subjects are shelved together. Each item is given a subject heading that corresponds to a call number which identifies the location of the item on a shelf. Call numbers consists of letters and numbers, and are arranged on the shelves in alphabetical and numerical order. For example, the call number for the book A History of Skiing in Colorado is GV854.5 .C6 F38 2000.

GV One or two letters represent a broad subject. These letters are not initials or an abbreviation for the subject. In this case, “GV” are the letters for Recreation and Leisure.

854.5 Numbers for a more specific subject within the broad category. In this case, the winter sport of downhill skiing.

.C6 The next line is referred to as the cutter number. Some books have two cutters, the first of which breaks down the subject area even further. In this case the "C" refers to Colorado.

F38 If the call number has a second cutter number, this represents the author or organizations’s name or the title of the work. In this case the author's last name is Fay.

2000 The date the book was published.

Items are arranged on the shelves from left to right, top to bottom within each section of shelving, according to call numbers. Call numbers are arranged in alphabetical order by class letters, and then numerically, as outlined below:

In general, call numbers are arranged first in alphabetical sequence...

...then in numerical sequence. Read the second line, or the first set of numbers, as a WHOLE number.

...then by a combination of alphabetical and decimal order on the third line. Subsequent lines with both letters and numbers are read alphabetically and then in decimal order; subsequent lines with only numbers are read as whole numbers. For example, correct call number order is shown below for a sampling of items: