Hiram College Library

Find Books in the Juvenile Collection (2nd floor)

How it is Arranged?

The Juvenile Collection (also known as the Kids Books or the Children’s Collection) is actually four collections in one.  What they have in common is:

• They contain books for pre-K through 12.
• There is no breakdown on the shelves by age group, although picture books and board books are separated by format.

The four collections are called:

Juvenile, which is the location given in the brief catalog record below:

The Juvenile collection contains non-fiction books, such a books about animals, biographies, as well as counting books and alphabet books.  It is arranged by Dewey Decimal call numbers.

Juvenile Fiction, which is the location given in the brief catalog record below:

Juvenile Fiction contains beginning to read, middle grade, and young adult fiction.  It is arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name.

Picture books (call number begins with PB) contains picture books and are arranged alphabetically by the author's last name.

Board books (call number begins with BB) are books with thick, cardboard pages, typically for younger children. They are arranged alphabetically by the author's last name and stored in bins below the picture books. 

How Do I Find Juvenile Books in the Online Catalog?

There are three tricks to finding fiction books (and sometimes non-fiction books) using the catalog.  Let’s suppose you are looking for books on frogs.  Here are two ways to find juvenile books on frogs:

• Do a keyword search for frogs, but limit your search to the juvenile collection only. Your search would look something like this:

• Do a subject search for frogs and use the phrase juvenile literature (to find mostly non-fiction books) or juvenile fiction (to find fiction books)

• You may also search what the catalog calls genre/form using a keyword search.  The most common genre/form searches in the juvenile collection are for: picture books for children, board books, and stories without words.  This last one may retrieve items from the main collection or the fiction collection, so be sure to limit this search to the juvenile collection.

If the catalog does not default to Hiram as your location, there are two ways to change it. 

From the Keyword search screen, click “Limit your search (optional)” and then select Hiram from the location list. The other search screens (title, author, subject) have the location limiter already visible. 

Or, once you have a search result, you can limit to Hiram by selecting Hiram from the location dropdown.

Dewey Decimal Classification

The main Dewey Decimal classes are:

000 Generalities 
100 Philosophy and psychology 
200 Religion 
300 Social Sciences 
400 Language 
500 Natural sciences and mathematics 
600 Technology (Applied sciences) 
700 The arts (fine and decorative) 
800 Literature and rhetoric 
900 Geography and history

Each class is further subdivided at the hundred divisions and the thousand sections. Numbers are placed after a decimal point to further identify material more specifically by subject.

The following table below will help with the most frequent locations. 

On every entry in the Hiram College Library catalog you will find a section below the Title that looks like this:

LOCATION entry tells you where the item is located physically in the building.

Table of Locations 

The following table below will help with the most frequent locations. 

On every entry in the Hiram College Library catalog you will find a section below the Title that looks like this:

STATUS entry tells you if it is on the shelf or not and if not, why.

Table of Statuses

 Add / Reorder  

What if the book is checked out?
If a book is checked out, the Library Catalog will indicate when it will be returned. You then have three options:

1. You can wait till the book gets returned to the shelf to check it out. Please be aware that the date that it lists as the return date is dependent upon the current borrower bringing it back. If that person forgets the return date could slide considerably.
2. You can request the book through OhioLink or Search Ohio as this may result in a quicker delivery time than waiting for the return of the current book.
3. You can place the book on hold in the Hiram Library catalog by clicking the "Request" button below the item record.

What if the book has a link instead of a call number?
The library has some items which which will not be on the shelves but instead available directly by clicking on them. Also Hiram College Library is a Federal Depository Library and may have resources from the Federal Government that are electronic. If you see “Electronic Resource” or "View Online" instead of a call number, click on the title to open the record and then click the link to view the item online.

What if the Library Catalog does not list the book I need?
If the Hiram College Library does not have the book you need, please check through the OhioLink Catalog and/or SearchOhio. Both of these sources can have the titles you need and can be requested simply and easily through the catalog itself. If all else fails you can request the title by using the Inter Library Loan Form. You may also request the book be purchased for the library by emailing the librarians at library@hiram.edu.