Guide for Student Employees

Most books will be shelved on the second or third floors:

• The main collection begins on the third floor with call numbers beginning with A through PR.

• The remainder of the main collection, PS through Z, will be on the second floor.

• The second floor also houses special collections such as Quarto, CURR LIB, Jansen/Perry, O'Laughlin, and DVD collections.

Book location guides with floor maps are available as aids.

Check with a staff member if you are unsure of where the books should be shelved!

Shelving materials back into the collection is one of the most important jobs in the library.  Accurate shelving makes materials accessible and usable to the patrons who need them. 

Student employees are expected to shelve one cart of library materials when working a typical shift (usually 2 or more hours).  Students working a double shift may be required to shelve two carts. 

Materials in the library are arranged by call number (the label on the spine of the book) using the Library of Congress classification system (or "LC" for short).  It's important to learn the LC system for shelving and for helping patrons locate materials.

The shelving process begins at the Circulation Desk when materials are returned by patrons.  Here we check items in on Alma at the discharge station, sensitize them, and sort them by collection and call number on the re-shelf shelves.

When we're ready to shelve materials into the collections upstairs, we put them on the top shelf of a book truck (still in call number order) with the spines facing up.  Then we "scan-in" the barcodes in Alma to create an Excel spreadsheet printout.

Click here for step by step instructions on the Reshelving and Revising Procedure in Alma

When you shelve a book place it on the shelf tipped down (with the spine up).  Later when the shelves are checked for accuracy (also called revising) a staff person will know from the position of the book that the book has been recently shelved.  They will verify that it is in the right location and turn it upright.

• Bound periodicals are the exception to the rule of shelving the book with the spine up.  They are shelved upright.   Bound periodicals with call numbers A-F are on the second floor, G-Z are on the lower level.

• Before moving on, double-check that you have shelved the book in the correct spot.  A good way to do this is to look at the LC number of the books before and after the book you have just shelved. 

• If you find books that are mis-shelved or out of order, please bring them to the circ desk so they can be discharged.

• If the books are tight on the shelf, don’t try to jam a book into its spot.  Loosen the bookend to make room.

• It may be necessary to make room on the shelf by shifting the first one or two books to the end of the shelf above, or the last one or two books to the beginning of the shelf below.

• If there is no room on the shelf or if the shelf appears crowded make note of it on your printout.  Bring the books you can’t shelve down to the circ desk and tell a staff person so we can arrange for the area to be shifted.

• If you can’t finish shelving the books on a truck before the end of your shift, bring the truck downstairs so that another person can complete it.