U.S. Prison System: 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 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. 

The following terms are just a few examples to help you search for books on your topic:

• Imprisonment -- United States -- History.
• Imprisonment -- Social aspects -- United States.
• Crime
• Criminal law
• Violent crimes
• Prisons
• Prison psychology -- United States.
• Corrections

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

Further refine the results by Resource Type and select Books.

Here are few E-books available electronically that may may help you with your paper:

Here are some books available in the library that may help you with your paper: