Locating a book in Chalmers

After you've identified a book you're interested in, you'll need its Call Number in order to find it:

Call number breakdown

The call number for the book in the screenshot above is HQ1155 .S66 2010. This call number breaks down as follows:

• HQ represents the general subject area and is sorted in alphabetical order, e.g.,
  G ⇒ HQ ⇒ J
  HN ⇒ HQ ⇒ HS
• 1155 represents a specific subdomain or discipline and is sorted as a whole number, e.g.,
  HQ310 ⇒ HQ1155 ⇒ HQ2100
  HQ1140.9 ⇒ HQ1155 ⇒ HQ1155.1
• .S66 represents the author's last name or another identifier and is sorted alphabetically by letter and then numerically as a decimal, e.g.,
  HQ1155 .R98 ⇒ HQ1155 .S66 ⇒ HQ1155 .T11
  HQ1155 .S42 ⇒ HQ1155 .S66 ⇒ HQ1155 .S8
• 2010 is the year of publication but is not usually necessary for finding a book

Finding your book

1. Use the one or two letters at the start of the call number (HQ in this example) to identify the book's general location in the library.
2. Once in the general area, use the labels at the end of each shelf to find the row containing the initial letter/number combination (HQ1155 in this example).
3. The initial letter/number combination (HQ1155) should narrow the search down to one or two shelves, where either the book's author and title or the decimal letter/number (.S66 in this example) can be used to identify the correct book
4. If necessary, the date (2010 in this example) can be used to differentiate between editions or works by the same author

General location of call numbers

The maps below give the general arrangement in Chalmers Library of the one or two letter that begin each call number:

Chalmers L1

Chalmers L2