Library of Congress (LC) Call Numbers are like an item's address to help you find where it lives on the shelf. Each letter stands for an academic discipline. In the image below, L is for Education, LD is for Individual Institutions - United States. Can you guess which institution is at LD 4363 .U55 2006?
To read a call number, read the number from left to right or top to bottom as follows:
Lastly, the shelf is organized from top to bottom in sections, so you'll zig-zag down each section 
to look for your call number before moving to the next section.
Bonus: You can also click the "Locate" option in LibrarySearch to see a floor map with the number of the shelf your item is on.
Letter |
Subject Area |
|---|---|
| A | General Works |
| B | Philosophy, Psychology, Religion |
| C | Auxiliary Sciences of History |
| D | World History |
| E | History of the Americas |
| F | History of the Americas |
| G | Geography, Anthropology, Recreation |
| H | Social Sciences |
| J | Political Science |
| K | Law |
| L | Education |
| M | Music |
| N | Fine Arts |
| P | Language and Literature |
| Q | Science |
| R | Medicine |
| S | Agriculture |
| T | Technology |
| U | Military Science |
| V | Naval Science |
| Z | Bibliography, Library Science, Information Resources |
To drill down into the LC Classification Outline, use the link below:
Books, videos, and other materials in library catalogs are assigned official subject headings by the Library of Congress (LCSH) by cataloging librarians. These subject headings describe an item's content and what it is about, and are useful for focusing research on broader, narrower, or related topics. Look for subject heading links in the library catalog to find more items on the same topic. Some subject headings are dated or even problematic, and they can be changed through a petition process.
For example, the book Dance and the Hollywood Latina: Race, Sex, and Stardom has LC subject headings to describe it like "Hispanic Americans in motion pictures" and "Race in motion pictures," but (as of 2022), "Latina" is not an official LCSH and "Latinos" is listed as a variant.
If you know the subject headings that are likely to be tagged on the item you want to find, search by Subject. Eugene (Or.) -- History is an example of a Geographical Subject Heading.
Subdivisions, or subheadings, are words or phrases which may be added to a subject heading to create a more effective search. They are hyperlinked in LibrarySearch so that you can use them to see all records they are connected with.
Some standard subheadings are:
| Type of Subdivision | Examples | Useful for: |
|---|---|---|
|
Topical – What this item is about (content) |
Museums Aging Statistical Methods |
Narrowing a broader topic into subtopics |
|
Form |
Dictionaries Periodicals Textbooks |
Useful for locating specific types of materials |
|
Chronological |
21st century Japanese Heian period, 794-1185 Middle Ages, 600-1500 |
Locating information about a particular era or time period |
|
Geographical (place) |
England --London Eugene (Or.) Narnia (Imaginary place) |
Finding information about a specific place or region |
| Other Common Subdivisions |
Bibliography Biography Criticism and interpretation Translations into [language] Social life and customs Fiction |
Locating bibliographies, fiction, etc. |
Cataloging librarians follow specific rules for adding LC Subject Headings to an items record.
LibrarySearch offers a streamlined interface for finding books and other media that combines the collections of UO Libraries and Summit libraries.
1501 Kincaid Street
Eugene, OR 97403
P: 541-346-3053
F: 541-346-3485
