The University Library uses something called the Dewey Decimal System to put our books into a sequence that - in theory - helps students know where on our shelves the materials they need are located. The idea is that all of the books on the same subject area should be grouped together.
Under the Dewey system, each book is assigned a classmark comprised of numbers and letters. The numbers relate to a subject category and the letters usually relate to a portion of either the author's surname or the book title. Often the number element can include a decimal point with several decimal places after it, but when searching through the library shelves it is the initial three digit number that you should home in on first before concentrating on the decimal element.
Example classmark for Taxation: Policy and Practice by Andy Lymer and Lynne Oats = 336.200941/LYM
In this example, the 336 specifies the subject heading of Taxation (within the wider area of Economics).
The .200941 focuses the subject down to Taxation policy specifically and the LYM represents the first three letters of the author's surname (Lymer).
You will find the classmark on the book record in the LibrarySearch catalogue, e.g.
In general, the Dewey Decimal Classification system has 10 broad classes that each represent an area of knowledge;
- 000 - 099: Computer Science, general reference works and Information Science
- 100 - 199: Philosophy and Psychology
- 200 - 299: Religion
- 300 - 399: Social Sciences
- 400 - 499: Languages and Linguistics
- 500 - 599: Science (including Mathematics)
- 600 - 699: Technology
- 700 - 799: Arts and Recreation
- 800 - 899: Literature
- 900 - 999: History and Geography
Each of these classes can be broken down into specific subject topics, such as the 500 - 599 Sciences class which includes: 500 Science; 510 Mathematics, 520 Astronomy, 530 Physics, 540 Chemistry, 550 Earth Sciences & Geology, 560 Fossils & Prehistoric Life, 570 Life Sciences & Biology, 580 Plants (Botany), and 590 Animals (Zoology).
Each of those science topics then divides even further into a very specific heading, e.g. the 530s for Physics contains... 530 Physics, 531 Classical Mechanics, 532 Fluid Mechanics, 533 Pneumatics (Gas Mechanics), 534 Sound and related vibrations, 535 Light and related radiation, 536 Heat, 537 Electricity and electronics, 538 Magnetism and 539 Modern Physics
