Shakespeare and His Times: Find Books

Ever wonder how the books are shelved?

In this library we use The Library of Congress Classification System to organize books on the shelves. The LC SYSTEM organizes material in libraries according to twenty-one branches of knowledge called classes. The system uses letters to represent the twenty-one broad branches of knowledge. The letters I, O, W, X AND Y are not used.

The twenty-one classes are:

A – GENERAL WORKS

B – PHILOSOPHY, PSYCHOLOGY, RELIGION

C – AUXILIARY SCIENCES OF HISTORY

D – HISTORY: GENERAL & OUTSIDE THE AMERICAS

E – HISTORY: UNITED STATES

F – HISTORY: UNITED STATES LOCAL & AMERICAS

G – GEOGRAPHY, ANTHROPOLOGY, RECREATION

H – SOCIAL SCIENCE

J – POLITICAL SCIENCE

K – LAW

L – EDUCATION

M – MUSIC & BOOKS ON MUSIC

N – FINE ARTS

P – LANGUAGE & LITERATURE

Q – SCIENCE

R – MEDICINE

S – AGRICULTURE

T – TECHNOLOGY

U – MILITARY SCIENCE

V – NAVAL SCIENCE

Z – BIBLIOGRAPHY, LIBRARY SCIENCE & INFORMATION RESOURCES

These twenty-one broad subject areas are further divided into more specific subject areas by adding one or two additional letters as well as some numbers. See the other side of this guide for the general breakdown. For a more detailed breakdown of any subject, go to the Library of Congress web page.

Finding Books on Your Topic 

Once you have chosen a topic and done your background research you will be ready to conduct more comprehensive research using books.

Use the Library Catalog to find books. Books can provide a broad overview of a topic or in-depth information. You can search for books by author, title, subject, or keyword. 

Use the following terms to search for books on William Shakespeare and his plays:

Shakespeare, William (subject search) - subdivided by numerous specific topics such as biography, criticism and interpretation, ethics, political and social views, etc. as well as the titles of individual plays.

England - Intellectual life - 16th century (subject search)

Elizabethan England (all fields search)

English Renaissance (all fields search)

Great Britain - social life and customs (subject search)

English drama - History and criticism (subject search)

Theater - England - History (subject search)

Remember to search by SUBJECT to find books about your topic! 

If you want to see if we have a copy of the play itself, search by TITLE.

 Here are some of the library's online resources which can help you get biographical and critical information. Most online resources require login for off-campus use.  Enter your Cerritos College login when prompted.  For more login information see the Database Login page.

Below are some books that are in the library. In these books you will find plot overviews, character studies, and critical information on the author's work.