Careers and College Majors: Find 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 

Use the Library Catalog to find books. 

Try doing a Subject Search for a specific career followed by the term Vocational Guidance. 

For example: Teaching - Vocational Guidance or Health - Vocational Guidance

 

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For a more general search covering many careers try:

Careers in
A series of books on different careers. To see the whole series, do a title search:
Title=Careers in

Extraordinary Jobs
This series talks about less familiar kinds of jobs.  To see the whole series, do a title search:
Title=Extraordinary jobs

Opportunities in
A series of books on different occupations.  To see the whole series, do a title search:
Title=Opportunities in

The All Fields seach can be used to find additional books:

All Fields: career path

 

Here are a few E-books which may be useful in your research: