Student Orientation: Borrowing Physical Books

Our catalog lists books (including eBooks), CDs, DVDs, journal titles (but not individual articles within journals), government documents,  and microforms.  If you are not sure how to search for materials in the catalog, see the Search Strategies below or contact us.

Need to know how to find it on the shelf? Try this: Track Down Your Book .

Didn’t find anything useful? Try the OhioLINK catalog. And don’t forget the SearchOhio link on the OhioLINK catalog as a way to expand your search. Remember that OneSource searches everything the library has access to.

Need to find still more? Try WorldCat and/or Google Books.

Search strategies for finding materials in our Catalog

Keyword Searching
This search looks for matching documents that contain one or more words specified by the you anywhere in the catalog. It is good for finding the largest possible return. However it can also result in materials that have nothing to do with your subject.

Subject Searching
In the library catalog, select "Subject" in the drop down box to the left of the search field, then type in the box: Baseball (or, more specialized terms, such as: planetary motion; armadillo diseases; etc.).

The "*" is a truncation symbol that will retrieve various forms of each word, for example, use regulat* to find results like regulation, regulatory, regulators. The "and" will require that both terms appear, but not necessarily in the same phrase.

Title or Author Searches
In the library catalog, choose "Title" to locate a specific work or, choose "Author" to find books written by a particular author.

Material Type (book, eBook, etc.)
Select a material type from the dropdown to limit to a Book (physical item), eBook (digital item), musical recording, map, and more. 

Collection:
Select the Collection limiter to reduce your results to a particular part of the library, such as the film collection, juvenile collection, or government documents. Since the Government Documents collection is so large, it can sometimes overwhelm your results. Use the "All Collections Except Gov Docs" limiter to remove them from your search.

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.

Go to the Database A-Z List to sort databases by subject and other categories and see full descriptions of each database. 

A library database is a searchable electronic index of published, reliable resources. Databases provide access to a wealth of useful research materials from academic journals, newspapers, and magazines. While there are some databases that are good for general research inquiries, many databases are subject specific, providing targeted information in selected areas of research. Some databases also include e-books, relevant Web resources, and various multimedia.

Library databases are different from internet sources. To access the databases provided by the Hiram College Library, you'll need to either be on campus on the Hiram College network, or you'll need to sign in when accessing from off campus.

If you know the database you're looking for, jump directly to it from the list here:

Use this search bar to look for databases by keyword:

Here is a list of the most commonly used databases in Hiram's collection:

Please Note:

You do not need to submit an interlibrary loan request to have a book from OhioLINK sent to the Hiram College Library. You can request materials on your own with your library barcode number. For help with requesting a book through OhioLINK, please contact our staff: 

Materials take 3 to 5 business days (or sometimes longer) to arrive.

You will be notified by email when your materials arrive.

Books not picked up after 10 days are automatically returned.

Requests are blocked if:

• Our copy is available;
• There are no available, circulating copies;
• You do not have borrowing privileges at the Hiram College Library.

You can check the status of your requests by checking your library account.

Further information about OhioLINK.

You do not need to submit an interlibrary loan request to have a book from SearchOhio sent to the Hiram College Library. You can request materials on your own with your library barcode number. For help with requesting a book through SearchOhio, please contact our staff: 

The easiest way to locate a particular journal or magazine is to use the search box above.

What does using this search help you with?

• Locating a particular article if you know the title of the Journal it is in.
• Determining if any of our indexes contain a particular Journal.
• Discovering new journals in a particular subject area. 

What does this search NOT help you with?

• Searching for unknown articles in a particular subject.
• Locating a print or online resource we do not have access to.
• Remember articles can still be obtained by Inter Library Loan.

Some issues that you may encounter when looking for Journals & Magazines.

• If you are using the "Searchable A to Z List" you may find that many of these links will only work on campus.
• What if the "Searchable A to Z List" does not have the journal or magazine that you are looking for?
  • Unfortunately while the index is extensive it is not possible to have everything. However we can still get materials that are not on this list.
  • Please fill out the InterLibrary Loan Form for Articles and we will attempt to obtain the article for you.
  • Also you can find out more Information About InterLibrary Loan.
• What if I cannot find the Full Text of an article?
  • We would be happy to help you find the article you are looking for. Visit the Ask Here desk to ask for a librarian, or contact us to schedule an appointment.

You will be prompted to login to the EJC when accessing from off campus. See Connecting from Off Campus for help with logging in. 

• OhioLINK Electronic Book Center 

  The OhioLINK Electronic Book Center (EBC) contains more than 125,000 e-book titles, covering numerous subjects, and includes scholarly monographs, encyclopedias, dictionaries and other reference works. Most e-books are permanently owned by OhioLINK. Content is funded through a combination of member library contributions and OhioLINK central funds.

You will be prompted to login to the EBC when accessing from off campus. See Connecting from Off Campus for help with logging in.

The WorldCat Catalog

Search WorldCat if you have exhausted other options for locating the items you need (Hiram's Library Catalog, OhioLink/SearchOhio, OneSource, etc.). WorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services. Currently, this shared catalog contains the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories. 

If you find something in WorldCat that you want but can't find it in the Hiram College Library collection or OhioLINK you'll need to fill out an InterLibrary Loan Form to request the item.

The time required to locate and obtain these materials can vary so please be proactive in your research. When in doubt please visit the library and talk to our librarians for help.

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.

If you can't find what you need at the Hiram College Library, try these options:

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) allows Hiram College students, faculty and staff to obtain materials that are not held by the library, OhioLINK, or a SearchOhio** public library.

• Access the ILL form from the Library page for ILL requests.
• Request articles using the "Request this Item through interlibrary loan" link in any EBSCO database. 

If you can't find what you need at the Hiram College Library, try these options:

SearchOhio allows you to borrow books from most public libraries in Ohio and have them sent to the Ask Here desk in the Library.

• Materials take 3 to 5 business days (or sometimes longer) to arrive.
• You will be notified by email when your materials arrive.
• Books not picked up after 10 days are automatically returned.
• Requests are blocked if:
  • Our copy is available;
  • There are no available, circulating copies;
  • You do not have borrowing privileges at the Hiram College Library.