OBIS
Find books, e-books, videos, scores, and recordings at Oberlin by title, author, subject, keyword, or other options.
OhioLINK
Can't find a book at Oberlin? Find and request materials held at 120 OhioLINK libraries. Requested items are delivered to the circulation desk on the first floor of Mudd Center, typically within 3-5 business days. The OhioLINK catalog describes over 46 million items, including books, periodicals, maps, music scores, and audiovisual materials.
Interlibrary Loan
Can't find what you need at Oberlin? For books, try OhioLINK. For books not available through OhioLINK and for other types of materials, use Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
ILL lets you borrow materials from non-OhioLINK libraries, including print books, scanned journal articles, musical scores, videos, theses/dissertations, and more.
Reading Call Numbers
There are two major call number systems used in the libraries: the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classification schemes. The first line of a call number, as it appears on a physical item, is a broad subject classification. The subsequent lines are combinations of letters and numbers that organize items into narrower, related categories.
| Library of Congress | Dewey Decimal |
| Q Alphabetically 181 Whole number |
500.2 Whole number, followed by decimal |
| D525 Alphabetically, then decimals (may be followed by another letter) |
.K 868P Alphabetically, then decimals |
| 2020 Publication Date, shelves chronologically | e.g., 500.2 K868P shelves before 500.2 K87H |
See How to Read Call Numbers from the University of Berkeley Library for more details about LC call numbers.
Recent Additions to the Library
Please see New in the Science Library, a list arranged in broad subject categories and updated with every delivery of newly cataloged books for the Science Library.
eBooks
In addition to the print books in the science library, there are tens of thousands of digital format e-books accessible through OBIS. Just click on the E-Books tab to limit your search to books online.
