Online Catalog Home

About the Catalog
FAQs

SEARCHING:
Basic Searching
- Title
- Author/Creator Browse
- Subject Browse
- Keyword
- Command Keyword
- Call Number Browse
- LCCN-ISBN-ISSN
- Series/Uniform Title
- Author/Creator by Title
Guided Searching

Limiting Searches
Search History
Boolean Searching

INDEX CODES:
for Guided Searches
for Command Keyword

SEARCH RESULTS:
Brief Record
Subjects/Content
Full Record
MARC Tags

Headings List
Titles List
Titles List (Keyword)
References/Scope Notes
Save, Print, Email

OTHER TOPICS:
Headings List Types
Type of Material
Database Selection
Icons, Buttons & Tabs
Session Time-out Errors
Known Problems

A Basic Search - Call Number Browse locates materials by their unique shelving numbers at the Library of Congress.

Basic Search -
Call Number Browse

• Search complete or partial call numbers
• tk5103.59 .f5288 1990 {complete} for Fiber optic communications handbook
• qa76.887 {partial} for catalog records relating to a certain subject -- DNA based computers
• Call numbers obtained from other libraries using the Library of Congress Classification system should be verified in the Library of Congress Online Catalog since such libraries may modify these numbers in response to local needs.

NOTE:
Search limits are not available.
Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are not available.

Call Number Browse Search Examples:

Search Tips:

• Punctuation and spacing matter. In general, punctuation and spacing should be entered as they appear in the catalog record.
  • In searches for call numbers containing a decimal extension, the . (period) must be included (e.g., tk5103.59)
  • In searches for call numbers containing a "double cutter" (that is, more than one letter/number combination appears after the class number), a space must be included before the second letter, (e.g., ps509.d6 c6)
  • In searches for call numbers which contain a date, a space must be included before the date. (e.g., sf426.c65 1991)

• Case does not matter.

• Searches are automatically truncated; do not use the question mark (?) for truncation.

• If a search for a known number does not produce satisfactory results, try entering only the first part of the call number. Always include at least one numeric character in the search term. Searches on partial call numbers that lack numeric characters generally retrieve too many records to be useful. Instead of searching under "P" or "PQ" try "PQ139." Note: An exception is searching for materials which have call numbers without any numerals, such as some Law Library materials and some special collections.

• Do not use the Call Number search to locate U.S. government documents in the LC depository collection. To search by Superintendent of Document (SuDoc) number for publications that may be in that collection, use the index code K086 in Command Keyword.

• Do not use the Call Number search method to search by numbers from classification schemes that are not used to shelve materials in the Library of Congress collections, e.g. the Decimal Classification (Dewey) and the National Library of Medicine Classification. Many Library of Congress Online Catalog records contain numbers from these and other classification schemes for the use of other libraries. The Command Keyword search method offers special indexes for searching the Online Catalog using numbers from these classification schemes.

Use the browser's [Back] button to resume searching.

>>Top of Page

Questions on searching?
   - Ask a Librarian
Reporting catalog errors?
   - Use our Error
      Report Form