Outside Academics: Exploring the Library for Fun & Personal Enrichment

Looking for some entertainment / leisure reading?  Both Irwin and the Science Library have small collections of bestsellars in print and ebook formats.  The print collections are housed:

• Irwin Library Print Browsing Collection - located in the soda & snack machine alcove on the 1st floor of Irwin
• Science Library Print Browsing Collection - located in the Science Library stacks, Row 5A

Below are the search box codes to enter into Butler Libraries online catalog (WorldCat) to bring up the titles in these collections:

To browse specific collections that Butler Libraries has for popular reading materials.  Type the following code in Butler Libraries Online Catalog search box: 

Tyoe:  b8: browsing (note: this will bring up the browsing collections in both Irwin and the Science Library)  

• Irwin Library Print Browsing Collection - located in the soda & snack machine alcove on the 1st floor of Irwin
• Science Library Print Browsing Collection - located in the Science Library stacks, Row 5A

Another popular fiction area is the Young Adult literature area at the South Campus Education Library. To limit results by this type of search, select the Advanced Search option in the Library Catalog  and select/type: 

Search Index:  Subject and Search Term: Young Adult

When you look up your book, the call number should appear in the query. In this case, the search was made for Angie Thomas's The hate u give. As you can see, it is available as both an eBook and in print.  The Call Number is located next to the green checkmark: "PZ7.T36553 Ha 2017." Make sure to have this number available when you go to locate your book - and in this instance, the books is in the Young Adult Books section of the Education Resource Library (ERL).  ERL has limited hours; consult this page for hours information.

Call Number Ranges

Butler Libraries use the Library of Congress classification system. For literature/fiction reading, The PN subclass deals with general literature, PR is English literature, and PS is American literature. Related sections within the American literature call number ranges are outlined below:

PS 700 - 3576 - Individual Authors

PS991-(3390) 19th century

PS3500-3549 1900-1960

PS3550-3576 1961-2000

PS3600-3626 2001-

The PQ and PT subclasses include literature in the Romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese) and other world literatures (German, Dutch, Flemish, Afrikaans, etc). Each of these languages has a section devoted to criticism and/or literary history as well.

Library of Congress Classification System

Unless your book is located in the Browsing Section (located near the Vending Machines on the first floor of Irwin), it will most likely be located on the second floor. The map above will help you figure out which quad your book will be in based on Call Number.