Skip to Main Content

Resources in the Library

We have organised resources in the Library into collections and used a numbering system to make them easy to find

How to find a book in the Library

To find a book or other item on the Library shelves, you first need to find out what collection it is in and the shelfmark of the item.

Watch this video [coming soon] to find out how or read this FAQ.

The collections in the Library

Most of the books on your reading lists are in the Main Collection which begins on the ground floor and continues on the first and second floors.

Films, documentaries and television series on DVD, arranged in alphabetical order by title. This collection is located on the ground floor.

A collection of teaching resources across the key stages which supports trainee teachers, particularly on placement. Located on the ground floor, you'll find children's literature and non-fiction, story sacks, big books, puppets and other teaching equipment.

Some dissertations from previous years are located in locked display cases on the ground floor. Request to use them in the Library at the Library Helpdesk.

We have some current print journal titles and back runs of journals that we don't have online. These are located on the second floor.

Fragile, valuable, rare or restricted access items are in locked display cases. Request to use them in the Library at the Library Helpdesk.

Resources in the Library FAQs

We use a numbering system called Dewey Decimal Classification to organise collections of resources in the Library into subjects.

There are ten subject groups:

  • 000-099 Computer science, information and general works
  • 100-199 Philosophy and psychology
  • 200-299 Religion
  • 300-399 Social sciences
  • 400-499 Language
  • 500-599 Science
  • 600-699 Technology
  • 700-799 Arts and recreation
  • 800-899 Literature
  • 900-999 History and geography

See the floorplan and floor guides to find out which numbers are on which floors.

Watch this video [coming soon!] or follow the instructions below.

  1. Use Library Search to find the collection (e.g. Main Collection) and the shelfmark of the book you want to find.
  2. The shelfmark is printed on the spine of the book and is made up of a number and three letters. You need the whole number and the letters to find the book.
  3. Example: Transforming Behaviour in the Classroom by Geoffrey James has the shelfmark 371.1024 JAM.
    The number indicates the subject: 371.1024 = classroom management.
    The letters are the first three letters of the author's surname: Geoffrey JAMES.
  4. Find out what numbers are on which floors using the floorplans and floorguides in the Library.
  5. The shelfend signs on the end of each row of shelves tell you where to find the number.
  6. You often find more than one book with the same number which is why you need the three letters of the author's surname.
  7. For example, there are hundreds of books on classroom management at 371.1024 which are shelved alphabetically by surname.

Some copies of books and other items are marked with a Reference sticker which means that you can use them in the Library but you can't borrow them.

We do this so that you have access to key texts when all the other copies have been borrowed.

Are you looking for...?