How to use the Library
Maybe you know the title of a book you want to read, have a favourite author or just seek some information. We help you find whatever you are looking for by arranging our books in different sections.
Some books need to stay in the Library so they are always available if you want to look things up or when lots of people want to read them. Encyclopaedias, dictionaries, atlases and so on are kept in a Reference Section.
But the rest of of the Library is full of books which you may borrow. We divide them into two main sections: Fiction and Non-Fiction.
Made-up stories are Fiction
You study fiction books in English lessons... but you will want to read others just for pleasure.
Most films, videos and DVDs are also fictional. Many are based on books. But what you see on screen is always different from the original book. If you enjoyed the movie, try the book.
At QK we divide books in our fiction collection into 12 genres.
- Animals
- Classics
- Crime & Thrillers
- Graphic Novels
- Historical
- Horror
- Humour
- Older Fiction
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sport
- War
- Youth fiction
You can browse within your chosen genre or look for a particular book. We have arranged the books in each genre to help you find it.
Within each fiction genre, books are kept in alphabetical order of the author's surname starting with A at the left end of the top shelf and continuing with B, C and so on like this:
When you put a book back on a shelf, remember to put it in the correct place. Otherwise people will not be able to find it!
If you not sure about genres, use QK's Electronic Catalogue. Just type in the title or author's name and it will tell you the genre.
Books about real life are in the non-fiction section. These can be about hobbies or interests, school subjects, a person's life story, plants and animals, the planets and many, many other things.
A book about a person's life is called a biography. When someone writes about themselves it is called an autobiography. Bookshops and public libraries often have a separate section for biographies.
You can find more about things you have seen in a documentary on television by reading books on the topic. You will find them on the non-fiction shelves.
Sometimes you will want to read a non-fiction book right through but often you will just want to get some specific information.
So many books on so many subjects! It would be very difficult to find anything if libraries didn't organise their books in some way. And wouldn't it be great if all libraries used the same system?
Well, they do - thanks to an American named Melvil Dewey. He came up with the idea of sorting books into subjects. Each subject is given a logical number to tell you which shelf it is on. Helpfully, related subjects have numbers which put them on nearby shelves.
His system - known as Dewey Decimal Classification or DDC - proved so good that it is used by libraries everywhere.
To find books on a given subject, look for the 3-digit Dewey Number displayed on the shelving. If there are lots of books on that subject, then you may need to look for a longer number; these are on the books themselves.
But don't confuse Dewey Numbers with ISBNs.
All non-fiction books are given a subject number.
There are always three digits on the left of the decimal point. Sometimes there are also digits on the right.
The first digit ("hundreds") tells you the broad area.
- 000 Generalities
- 100 Physiology and Psychology
- 200 Religion
- 300 Social Sciences
- 400 Languages
- 500 Science and Mathematics
- 600 Technology
- 700 Arts and Recreation
- 800 Literature including Biography
- 900 Geography and History
The "hundreds" digit is all you need to find a book if a library has only a few books in a category. At QK, it won't take long to scan all the books in the 100-199 section!
But what if there are lots of books in a category?
There are lots of books on Science in the QK Library. They include everything from Astronomy to Zoology and have a Dewey number in the 500s.
The second digit ("tens") helps narrow the field.
- 500 Science
- 510 Mathematics
- 520 Astronomy
- 530 Physics
- 540 Chemistry
- 550 Earth Sciences
- 560 Palaeontology
- 570 Life Sciences
- 580 Botany
- 590 Zoology
All main subjects have subdivisions like this.
But there are lots of books on Life Sciences, say, so this is further divided using a third digit ("units").
All books on Life Sciences have a Dewey Number in the 570s. A third digit ("units") narrows the field.
- 570 Life Sciences
- 571 (not used)
- 572 Human Races
- 573 Physical Anthropology
- 574 Biology
- 575 Evolution and Genetics
- 576 Microbiology
- 577 General Nature of Life
- 578 Microscopy in Biology
- 579 Collection and Preservation
The 3-digit Dewey Numbers go from 000 Computers to 999 Extra-terrestrial Worlds.
You can download a print version of them.
Wow! aren't 1000 numbers enough?
In many libraries a 3-digit Dewey number is sufficient for you to track down any non-fiction book. You can easily scan all the titles with this number so long as there are not too many books on the subject. But sometimes there are!
Look for 3-digit Dewey numbers on shelving. Look on book spines for digits after the decimal point (these are for subjects not around in Dewey's day or when modern developments require further divisions).
Biochemistry, for example, needs extra digits:
There is no limit to how many extra digits you can have. In practice you are unlikely to need more than two or three to find books on your chosen subject.
Dewey Classifications were laid down in 19th century New York and reflect the learning and prejudices of the time and place. If Melvil Dewey were living today, he would probably arrange his 1000 numbers differently.
He would be able to give 20th century subjects numbers in their logical place. Computing would be a branch of 600 Technology rather than buried in 000 Generalities. Nevertheless, most modern subjects have been fitted into the logical scheme where you might expect them though they need more than the 3-digits which Dewey would have used.
World religions too have long numbers. Dewey used up 90 numbers for narrow areas of Christianity leaving only ten for all other religions. But he also allocated 80 numbers to History and only ten to Geography. Apparently Americans had many books about the past but few on the contemporary world.
But Dewey numbers can never be changed because they are on billions of books in thousands of libraries all over the world. Fortunately old numbers can still be used even if digits are added later for subdivisions. It is remarkable that a system designed in the 1880s has stood the test of time.
Some names have changed since the Victorian era. What we call Technology used to be 'Applied Sciences' and we use the term Science rather than 'Natural Sciences'. You may find the old names still in use in some libraries but, whatever they are called, you can still find them at 600 and 500 respectively.