Library Organization-4th
Library books are divided into 2 main types: FICTION and NON-FICTION.
FICTION books are stories from the author’s imagination. In the NPE Library, there are 4 sections that
contain FICTION books. They are the:
Fiction section (Chapter books on the tall shelves by the Tech Lab)
Easy Fiction section (Picture books on the short shelves)
Super Star Readers (Beginning chapter books on the last column of Fiction shelves)
and
Story Collection (Books of short stories on top of the last short shelf)
FICTION books are organized by AUTHOR. They are placed on the shelves in alphabetical order by the
author’s name, last name first. The author’s whole name may be used if there is more than one author with the
same last name. For example, books by Marc Brown come before books by Margaret Brown.
FICTION books have either an E (for Easy Fiction), FIC (for fiction), or SC (for Story Collection) in the
top line of the CALL NUMBER. The second line of the CALL NUMBER is the first 3 letters of the author’s
last name.
NON-FICTION books are books of facts. They contain information about different subjects. In the NPE
Library, there are 3 sections that contain NON-FICTION books. They are the:
Non-Fiction section (Books on the tall shelves on the Music Room side of the Library)
Biographies (Books about the lives of real people on the shelves under the high windows)
and
Reference section (Books with information on lots of subjects that cannot be checked out)
NON-FICTION books are organized by SUBJECT. The person a biography is about is the SUBJECT of the
biography, so biographies are in alphabetical order by the SUBJECT’S name, last name first.
The SUBJECT of a book in the Non-Fiction section is the topic the book is about. For example, the
SUBJECT of a book about sharks is sharks. Non-Fiction books with the same subject have the same DEWEY
DECIMAL NUMBER. The DEWEY DECIMAL NUMBER is the top line of the CALL NUMBER for books
in the Non-Fiction section. For example, 2 books about sharks would have the same DEWEY DECIMAL
NUMBER in the top line of the call number (597.3). DEWEY DECIMAL NUMBERS run from 001 to 999,
and are grouped into hundreds categories. Related SUBJECTS are in the same hundreds categories. For
example, the 500’s are Natural Science, so any SUBJECT about nature (space, plants, science, animals) has a
DEWEY DECIMAL NUMBER between 500 and 599. Within the same CALL NUMBER, books are put in
alphabetical order by the author’s name, last name first. The second line of the CALL NUMBER is the first 3
letters of the author’s last name.
000’s
100’s
200’s
300’s
400’s
General Works
Psychology and Philosophy
Religion
Social Science
Languages
500’s
600’s
700’s
800’s
900’s
Natural Science
Applied Science
Arts and Leisure
Literature
History and Geography
Remember: The top line of a CALL NUMBER tells you the section of the Library. The second line
of a FICTION book or Biography tells you the location within the section. For Non-Fiction books, the
top line of the CALL NUMBER also tells you where in the Non-Fiction section the book is located.
E
SHA
Picture book
by David Shannon
FIC
ROW
Chapter book
by J.K Rowling
567.9
TAN
Information about dinosaurs
by Shelley Tanaka
B
FRA
Biography
about Ben Franklin