Locating books
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Explaining Monash call numbers
Use a call number to find an item on the shelf
It is important that you note down all of the call number, and which part of the Monash collection the item is held in. Then you need to find each part of the number in turn. For example to find the book: Modern France: 1880-2002, James F. McMillan, with the call number 944.08 M167M 2003:
944.08 M167M 2003
- Locate the first three digits
- Locate any digits following the decimal point (Note decimals: 341.1 is after 341.05)
- Look for the letter M, then the next set of numbers/letter
- The final four digits denote the year of the book
Some common problems in looking for items
- make sure you have written down the whole number
- make sure that you have located the entire number, including all the digits after the decimal point
- check that you are looking in the correct site or collection eg Caulfield, Berwick, Law, serials etc
- look for prefix letters before the number (eg F = folio (large books), Mos = maths, NZ=New Zealand etc)
- note that some collections (eg Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Microfiche) have their own numbering system
- check that the item is not already on loan to someone else