SPAN 218: Latino Heritage I

LibrarySearch offers a streamlined interface for finding books and other media that combines the collections of UO Libraries and Summit libraries.

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Long Description of "Finding Books & More at UO Libraries" for Web Accessibility

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:

1. Alphabetically (L before LC, LC before LD)
2. Numerically (4363 before 4364.6)
3. Alphabetically (.A before .B) 
4. Decimal order (.A2 before .A5 or .A55) 
5. (Sometimes there are more pieces in alphabetical and then numerical order here)
6. Finally, chronologically (1985 before 1986) This is year of publication and may or may not be included.

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.

What are LCSH?

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.

Using LCSH in your LibrarySearch searches

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.

Submit an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request if you need something that isn't available in the UO Libraries collection and we will try to get it for you.