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| How to Find a Fiction Book at Middleton Library |
Where is your fiction section?
Unlike your local public library, Middleton Library does not have a "fiction" section where novels are arranged in alphabetical order by the author's last name. This often makes it difficult to "browse" the shelves when you want to find a good book to read.
Like most academic libraries, LSU Libraries use the Library of Congress classification system where American fiction is given a PSxxxx call number and British fiction a PRxxxx call number.
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What's the best way to find a book if I know the author's name or the title?
Author Searches
The easiest way to search is by author using the online catalog located on the libary homepage at www.lib.lsu.edu.
Image 1
Often, a list of several books will be retrieved in this type of search. When you find a title that you recognize, click on the "Details" button to view the entire record. See Image 2.
Image 2
On this screen you will see the call number for the book and its location(s).
To "browse" books by Stephen King, click the link "Items on the same shelf", in the small box on the left. This will take you to a "shelf list" of books by Stephen King that are held in the same location. See Image 3.
Image 3
Title Searches
If you know the exact title of the book, you can do a title search from the online catalog, just as you did in the author search. Select title search from the drop down menu (See Image 4), type in the title, select exact seach (Image 5) and click on the search button.
Image 4
Image 5
Notice that in Image 5, the "exact" title entered is Tale of Two Cities, not A Tale of Two Cities. Omit the words A, An and The when they begin a title.
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What if I don't know the author's name or the exact title to search?
If you are not sure of the exact title, enter the words you believe are in the title and instead of doing an "exact" search, click on the "browse" search, click on the "browse" search. This will retrieve titles that are similar to the search phrase for you to browse.
Example:
You believe the title of the book you want it The Art of War, a book about warfare in the Middle Ages. You are certain that you checked it out of Middleton Library once before, but now it doesn't come up when you search by exact title.
Try using the title browse search, as suggested above. The results show an alphabetical list of titles with the words "art of war", including the book on war in the Middle Ages. See Image 6.
Image 6
Note: The "Previous" and "Next" links in the purple menu bar can be used to browse this alphabetical list forward and backward. Sometiems this will be necessary to find the book you want.
Example:
Let's say the book you remember checking out was actually titled The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages from the Eighth Century to 1340. As you can see in Image 6, this title is not listed. But if you click the "Next" link you can find it in the listings.
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I need some ideas about what to read.
Print Resources:
Reader's Guides are books about books, or lists of short summaries of books in a particular genre or style. Science Fiction, Horror, Mystery/Suspense, and Adventure are just a few examples of genre or style.
Browsing a Reader's Guide can point you to new authors and titles in a style you enjoy reading. To find a Reader's Guide in Middleton Library, follow the steps outlined below:
From the online catalog, do a keyword search for "Reader's Guide ________." Fill in the blank with the type of book you like to read, i.e. horror, or science fiction, etc. See Image 7.
Image 7
The keyword search for "reader's guide horror" retrieved six records (See Image 8), each of which is a Reader's Guide to horror fiction. To find one of the guides, click on the "Details" button to find the call number and location of the book. After browsing through the list of recommended books, you with need to do an author or title search for the book you have selected to read in order to see if it is owned by LSU.
Image 8
The New York Times Book Review:
This guide to recently published books is printed weekly by The New York Times newspaper. It features the "Bestsellers Lists" for both fiction and nonfiction books.
Current issues can be found in Middleton's Current Periodicals Room, in 126 Middleton Library. Look for call number AP2 .N657.
New York Review of Books:
This guide to recently published books is printed biweekly most months. Current issues can be found in Middleton's Current Periodicals Room, in 126 Middleton Library. Look for call number AP2 .N657.
Online Resources
100 Best Novels
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html
Online Reader's Guides
Random House Publishers
http://www.randomhouse.com
Reader Resources > Reading Group Guides > Fiction & Literature
Barnes & Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com
Browse Books link (See Image 9)
Image 9
Or Search Box "Browse all books by subject" (See Image 10)
Image 10
Book Browser (See Image 11)
Image 11
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I want to put my hands on a book/any book quickly.
The Library displays its new books in the Current Periodicals Room, 126 Middleton Library. Go to the PR and PS section for new fiction.
Also, don't forget to check the shelves of the Book Exchange in Reference.
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