OBIS
Find books, e-books, videos, scores, and recordings at Oberlin by title, author, subject, keyword, or other options.
Tips for Identifying Scholarly Books
- Was the book published by an academic press? (e.g. Oxford University Press, St. Martin's Press, etc.) If it's not immediately obvious that the press is academic, you can google it to learn more.
- Is the book asking an academic research question and using scholarly methods to answer it?
- Does it use footnotes or another form of citation to allow readers to trace the evidence used to its original context?
- Is the author a professional researcher?
Reading Call Numbers
Two major call number systems are used in the libraries: the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classification schemes. As it appears on a physical item, the first line of a call number is a broad subject classification. The subsequent lines combine letters and numbers to organize items into narrower, related categories.
| Library of Congress | Dewey Decimal |
| HB Alphabetically 615 Whole number |
573.3 Whole number, followed by decimal |
| .C518 Alphabetically, then decimals (may be followed by another letter) |
.W932A Alphabetically, then decimals |
| 2018 Publication Date, shelves chronologically | e.g., 573.3 W932A shelves before 573.3 W94A |
See How to Read Call Numbers from the University of Berkeley Library for more details about LC call numbers.