American Dream: Find Books

Use the Library Catalog to search for electronic books by subject, keyword, author, or title.

• refine search results by Availability and select Available Online
• further refine the results by Resource Type and select Books 

Ever wonder how 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. For a more detailed breakdown of any subject, go to the Library of Congress web page. 

So, How Do I Find a Book on the Shelf?

Try this exercise, which was put together by the librarians at Kent State University, to see if you have figured out the Library of Congress system!

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 available in the Cerritos College Library. 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 your topic:

• American dream
• Income distribution - United States
• Middle class - United States
• Democracy - United States
• Equality - United States
• Social classes - United States
• United States - Economic conditions
• United States - Social Conditions
• Educational equalization -- United States
• Right to health care
• Racism
• Immigration
• Popular culture
• Wealth - United States
• Working class
• Minimum wage
• Poverty
• Standard of living

To locate ebooks, refine search results by Availability and select Available Online.

Further refine the results by Resource Type and select Books.

Here are a few E-books which may help with your research. Most E-books require a login for off-campus use.  Enter your Cerritos College login when prompted.  For more login information, see the Database Login page.

Here are some books which may help you with your research: